The Challenge of NASA's DART Mission—Doing Something That's Never Been Done

The Challenge of NASA's DART Mission—Doing Something That's Never Been Done

On September 26th, 2022 NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, did something that has never been done—crashed into the moon of an asteroid to change its speed and orbit. This might sound like an easy target-based, seek-and-impact kind of mission, but the reality is quite complicated. The asteroid is very small, very far away, and space is very dark.

Why are we doing this? To prove that we can use kinetic impactor as a technique to deflect an oncoming object in order to defend the Earth from an oncoming asteroid. 

This video explains the incredible and complex work that went into making the world's first planetary defense mission.

Learn more about DART: https://dart.jhuapl.edu/

Credit: JHU Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)

Duration: 3 minutes, 56 seconds

Release Date: September 28, 2022

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