NASA's Dart probe successfully crashed into asteroid Dimorphos, which was the size of a football stadium. This happened during a test to see if the asteroid's course could be diverted.
IMPACT SUCCESS! Watch from #DARTMIssion 's DRACO Camera, as the vending machine-sized spacecraft successfully collides with asteroid Dimorphos, which is the size of a football stadium and poses no threat to Earth. pic.twitter.com/7bXipPkjWD
— NASA (@NASA) September 26, 2022
The collision occurred about 11 million km from the Moon, at a speed of 22,530 kilometers per hour.
Dart mission engineer Elena Adams explained how it all happened, describing the historic collision as a mixture of horror and joy. "Really, we had no idea what to expect. We didn't know exactly the shape of the asteroid, we only knew that we had to hit it."
Now, scientists hope that the impact has changed the orbit of the asteroid, but this will be known for a short period of time, which coincides with days or weeks.
