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Article: Asteroid defense mission shifted the orbit of more than its target

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7 / 10

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NASA's DART spacecraft successfully altered the orbit of the moonlet Dimorphos around its parent asteroid, Didymos, by 33 minutes after a 2022 impact. New long-term data reveals the collision also changed the trajectory of the entire binary asteroid system in its orbit around the Sun.

Researchers measured this subtle system-wide shift using precise stellar occultation observations, timing when the asteroids passed in front of distant stars. The findings confirm the kinetic impact technique can meaningfully alter an asteroid's path, validating a key planetary defense strategy.

The main topics covered are the DART mission's results, the orbital changes to both the moonlet and the binary system, and the stellar occultation method used for measurement.

Original URL

https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/nasas-dart-mission-shifted-the-orbits-of-two-asteroids/

Source Feed

Ars Technica

Published Date

2026-03-06 19:00

Fetched Date

2026-03-06 16:30

Processed Date

2026-03-06 16:31

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Present

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Not Clustered

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On September 26, 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft crashed into a binary asteroid system. By intentionally ramming a probe into the 160-meter-wide moonlet named Dimorphos, the smaller of the two asteroids, humanity demonstrated that the kinetic impact method of planetary defense actually works. The immediate result was that Dimorphos’ orbital period around Didymos, its larger parent body, was slashed by 33 minutes.
Of course, altering a moonlet’s local orbit doesn’t seem like enough to safeguard Earth from civilization-ending impacts. But now, as long-term observational data has come in, it seems we accomplished more than that. DART actually changed the trajectory of the entire Didymos binary system, altering its orbit around the Sun.
Tracking space rocks
Measuring the orbital shift of a 780-meter-wide primary asteroid and its moonlet from millions of miles away isn’t trivial. When DART slammed into Dimorphos, it didn’t knock the binary system wildly off its trajectory around the Sun. The change in the system’s heliocentric trajectory was expected to be small, a minuscule nudge that would become apparent only after months or years of continuous observation. By analyzing enough painstakingly gathered data, a global team of researchers led by Rahil Makadia at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has now determined the consequences of the DART impact.
To find the infinitesimal deviation DART created, Makadia’s team relied mostly on a technique called stellar occultation. When an asteroid passes in front of a distant star from the perspective of an observer on Earth, the star briefly blinks out. By precisely timing these blinks as they sweep across the globe, astronomers can pinpoint an asteroid’s position with astonishing accuracy.