The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a swarm of boulders around the asteroid Dimorphos, which NASA’s DART spacecraft intentionally hit last fall
. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, weighing about 1,200 pounds , slammed head-on into Dimorphos at 13,000 miles per hour on September 26, 2022, to change the space rock’s velocity. It was the first time humanity set out to change the movement of a celestial object, and the results showed how this kinetic impact technology could be used to deflect asteroids that may be on a collision course with Earth.
The European Space Agency’s Hera mission is set to launch in 2024. The spacecraft, along with two CubeSats, is expected to arrive at the asteroid system in late 2026. Hera will study both asteroids, measure physical properties of Dimorphos, and examine the DART impact crater and the moon’s orbit, with the aim of establishing an effective planetary defense strategy. “The boulder cloud will still be dispersing when Hera arrives,” Jewitt said.
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