WASHINGTON – The American space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said its recent attempt to deflect the path of an asteroid was successful.
Scientists have now confirmed the orbit of a 160-meter wide space rock known as Dimorphos was altered when the Dart (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) probe struck it head on last month.
Researchers came to the conclusion after making measurements using a range of space and Earth-based telescopes.
The mission was conceived to test a potential strategy to defend the Earth against threatening objects.
Dart’s achievement proves such an idea would work, provided it was initiated early enough and the target wasn’t overly massive.
“This mission shows that NASA is trying to be ready for whatever the universe throws at us,” said agency administrator Bill Nelson.
“I believe that NASA has proven that we are serious as a defender of the planet,” he told reporters.
The space agency released a raft of data on Tuesday to support its assessment, including new pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope and from a small Italian spacecraft that stood off from the impact by about 50 kilometers.
The Dart took place some 11 million km from Earth.
It saw the refrigerator-sized NASA satellite drive straight into Dimorphos at 22,000km/h, destroying itself in the process. (BBC)
