NASA's DART Spacecraft: The Final Moments Before Asteroid Impact

NASA's DART Spacecraft: The Final Moments Before Asteroid Impact

After 10 months of flying in space, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)—the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration—successfully impacted its asteroid target on Monday, the agency’s first attempt to move an asteroid in space. 

Mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) announced the successful impact at 7:14 p.m. EDT on Monday, September 26, 2022.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission has attempted humanity’s first-ever test of planetary defense! The DART spacecraft intentionally crashed into asteroid Dimorphos to see if kinetic force can change its orbit. Why? If this test is successful, the same technique could be used to deflect an Earth-threatening asteroid in the future, should one ever be discovered. The DART Mission's target asteroid is NOT a threat to Earth before, during or after the impact event.

DART is a joint mission between NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL).

For more, visit nasa.gov/dart

Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) 

Duration: 15 seconds

Release Date: September 26, 2022

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