Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

Double Asteroid Redirection Test

Type

Impact

Launch

Nov. 24, 2021

Target

Didymos & Dimorphos

Objective

Impact asteroid moonlet Dimorphos

DART was the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.

DART Launches
On Sept. 26, 2022, DART impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, a small body just 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter. It orbits a larger, 2,560-foot (780-meter) asteroid called Didymos.
Credit: NASA

What Was DART?

DART was the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.

Goals
Demonstrate asteroid deflection with a kinetic impactor
Launch
10:21 p.m. PST, Nov. 23, 2021, (1:21 a.m. EST, Nov. 24), aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
Science Targets
Asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos
Type
Impact on Sept. 26, 2022
Funding
Agency
NASA
Related Websites
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