- Scientists have confirmed that NASA's DART mission successfully altered an asteroid's solar orbit, marking the first intentional change to a celestial body's path around the sun.
- The DART spacecraft impacted Dimorphos in 2022, which orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos, and observations now show their travel time around the sun was reduced by 0.15 seconds.
- This minor adjustment resulted in a 720-metre reduction in their 300-million-mile orbit, a significant step for future planetary defence against potentially hazardous space rocks.
- Researchers highlighted that even a small deflection, if applied years in advance, can prevent an asteroid from hitting Earth, though Dimorphos itself never posed a threat.
- The European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft is scheduled to reach the asteroids in November to conduct further studies on the impact's aftermath.
IN FULL