Smashing success: NASA asteroid strike results in big nudge

last november, Nasa's dart or double asteroid redirection test mission took off from Earth. It traveled nearly seven million miles out into space and recently it made contact with the asteroid pair. It was aiming for thomas and amorphous. The spacecraft was supposed to crash into dim or fous the smaller of the two in an attempt to change its trajectory. We won't know until *** bit later whether or not the asteroid has altered its course, but the dart spacecraft did slam into the space rock perfectly. Well, we've already seen the first person views as it *** pro and eventually made contact. Now Nasa has released an image of it crashing into the asteroid from *** distance. The images were captured by an italian space agency asteroid imaging satellite. It was released by Dart prior to its approach and they revealed just how spectacular that crash actually was. The simulations originally released by Nasa show *** tiny explosion. Meanwhile, the real thing looks much more epic, with tendrils of what appeared to be fire and gas reaching out in *** burst from the point of contact on dim Orpheus surface.

A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away succeeded in shifting its orbit, NASA said Tuesday in announcing the results of its save-the-world test.The space agency attempted the first test of its kind two weeks ago to see if in the future a killer rock could be nudged out of Earth's way.The Dart spacecraft carved a crater into the asteroid Dimorphos on Sept. 26, hurling debris out into space and creating a cometlike trail of dust and rubble stretching several thousand miles. It took days of telescope observations to determine how much the impact altered the path of the 525-foot asteroid around its companion, a much bigger space rock.Before the impact, the moonlet took 11 hours and 55 minutes to circle its parent asteroid. Scientists had hoped to shave off 10 minutes but NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the impact altered the asteroid's orbit by about 32 minutes. "This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us," Nelson said during a briefing at NASA headquarters in Washington.Neither asteroid posed a threat to Earth — and still don't as they continue their journey around the sun. That's why scientists picked the pair for the world's first attempt to alter the position of a celestial body.Launched last year, the vending machine-size Dart — short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — was destroyed when it slammed into the asteroid 7 million miles away at 14,000 mph.The test cost $325 million.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —

A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away succeeded in shifting its orbit, NASA said Tuesday in announcing the results of its save-the-world test.

The space agency attempted the first test of its kind two weeks ago to see if in the future a killer rock could be nudged out of Earth's way.

The Dart spacecraft carved a crater into the asteroid Dimorphos on Sept. 26, hurling debris out into space and creating a cometlike trail of dust and rubble stretching several thousand miles. It took days of telescope observations to determine how much the impact altered the path of the 525-foot asteroid around its companion, a much bigger space rock.

Before the impact, the moonlet took 11 hours and 55 minutes to circle its parent asteroid. Scientists had hoped to shave off 10 minutes but NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the impact altered the asteroid's orbit by about 32 minutes.

"This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us," Nelson said during a briefing at NASA headquarters in Washington.

Neither asteroid posed a threat to Earth — and still don't as they continue their journey around the sun. That's why scientists picked the pair for the world's first attempt to alter the position of a celestial body.

Launched last year, the vending machine-size Dart — short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test — was destroyed when it slammed into the asteroid 7 million miles away at 14,000 mph.

The test cost $325 million.

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