While asteroid Dimorphos was not at risk of hitting Earth, this demonstration could determine how to deflect space rocks that could pose a threat to Earth in the future.
“We are embarking on a new era of humanity, an era where we potentially have the ability to protect ourselves from something like a dangerous asteroid impact,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division. “What an amazing thing. We’ve never had that ability before.”
At the time of impact, Didymos and Dimorphos were relatively close to Earth, within 6.8 million miles (11 million km).
The spacecraft’s goal, aside from the impact, is to affect an asteroid’s motion in space, but it will take time for scientists to determine if the asteroid’s orbit changed.
Armageddon mission? NASA spacecraft will hit an asteroid
Dimorphos is a small asteroid moon orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didymos. The asteroid system poses no threat to Earth, NASA officials said, making it a perfect target for testing a kinetic impact, which may be necessary if an asteroid is on track to hit Earth.
The event was the first large-scale demonstration of deflection technology that can protect the planet.
“For the first time in history, we will appreciably change the orbit of a celestial body in the universe,” said Robert Braun, head of the Space Exploration Sector at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
Near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets with orbits that put them within 48.3 million kilometers (30 million miles) of Earth. Detecting the threat of near-Earth objects that could cause serious damage is a primary focus of NASA and other space organizations around the world.