NASA has crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in a world-first full-scale mission to trial technology for protecting Earth from potential asteroid collisions.
It's an experiment that has been months in the making, with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (or DART) first launched from Earth late last year.
Look back on the lead-up, the moment of impact and everything we've learned so far with our blog.
Live updates
By Kelsie Iorio
Our live coverage wraps up here
Thanks for joining us to talk all things DART!
This won't be the last we hear about this history-making mission — there's still lots more research and discovery to come — but for now, have a great day. 👋
By Kelsie Iorio
What happens now?
We don't really know yet if DART hit Dimorphos hard enough to change its course, or by how much.
From here, it's up to NASA's experts to watch what happens.
They're looking to measure Dimorphos's orbital change to figure out how DART's impact actually changes it.
"The results will help validate and improve scientific computer models critical to predicting the effectiveness of this technique as a reliable method for asteroid deflection," NASA says.
There are telescopes on the ground to watch for this — but we're also waiting to see what LICIACube, DART's little photographer friend, captures.
But NASA says LICIACube's images will be sent back to earth one-by-one, which will take a few weeks, because it doesn't have a large antenna on it.
By Kelsie Iorio
I'm not telling you what to do, but... do this
By Shiloh Payne
VIDEO: 'Incredible progress' as NASA's spacecraft crashes asteroid
Dr Rebecca Allen says it's wonderful to witness the progress in astronomy, as NASA successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in a world-first planetary defence test.
By Kelsie Iorio
More of your thoughts
Always get goosebumps when watching anything space and filled with glee like a curios child, I hope we get to see more within our lifetime.
- Spaceman
By Kelsie Iorio
It's good news for DART — not quite as good for Artemis I
At this stage, most of the DART plans have gone off without a hitch.
NASA's team working on the launch of the Artemis I rocket hasn't quite been so lucky.
Not only was the launch delayed for a third time, but the threat of Hurricane Ian has forced authorities to roll Artemis I back into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Centre — a process that could take up to 12 hours.
"Managers met Monday morning and made the decision based on the latest weather predictions associated with Hurricane Ian, after additional data gathered overnight did not show improving expected conditions for the Kennedy Space Center area," NASA said on its Artemis blog.
"The decision allows time for employees to address the needs of their families and protect the integrated rocket and spacecraft system."
By Shiloh Payne
'Spectacular! Amazing! Wonderous'
Glen Nagle, the Outreach and Administration Lead at NASA's Operations Support Officer, says there’s still so much science to be discovered from today’s event.
"What a beautiful little asteroid it is," he says.
"Its appearance suggests that it may be similar to other asteroids that have been visited in recent years, a loose rubble pile of house-sized boulders and car-sized and smaller rocks bound together by gravity.".
“Incredibly proud of our CSIRO team in the control room today. Just like DART, they were laser focussed on the task at hand and maintained communications lock right throughout these final hours."
By Shiloh Payne
Engineer speaks about moment of impact
A DART mission systems engineer says the team had "no idea" what to expect.
By Shiloh Payne
How will we see the impact if the camera was on the spacecraft?
Photos of the impact were taken by a mini satellite, which was a few minutes behind.
The Italian Cubesat was released from DART two weeks ago for this purpose.
By Shiloh Payne
Did it deviate the asteroid's course?
But did it actually deviate the asteroid's course?
- Mark
Hey Mark,
It'll take days to weeks for us to know if it *really* worked.
At the moment, we know it made impact, but not how much it will actually change the asteroid's course.
Astronomers will be closely monitoring the asteroid with telescopes.
By Shiloh Payne
Experts prefer nudging asteroids instead of blowing them up
Planetary defence experts prefer nudging a threatening asteroid or comet out of the way, given enough lead time, rather than blowing it up and creating multiple pieces that could rain down on Earth.
“The dinosaurs didn’t have a space program to help them know what was coming, but we do,” NASA’s senior climate adviser Katherine Calvin says, referring to the mass extinction 66 million years ago believed to have been caused by a major asteroid impact, volcanic eruptions or both.
By Shiloh Payne
Flight controllers cheered, hugged and exchanged high fives
Dart’s onboard camera DRACO caught sight of Dimorphos barely an hour before impact.
“Woo hoo,” exclaimed Elena Adams, a mission systems engineer at Johns Hopkins. "We’re seeing Dimorphos, so wonderful, wonderful.”
Ms Adams and other ground controllers in Laurel, Maryland, watched with growing excitement as Dimorphos loomed larger and larger in the field of view alongside its bigger companion.
Within minutes, Dimorphos was alone in the pictures; it looked like a giant grey lemon, but with boulders and rubble on the surface.
The last image froze on the screen as the radio transmission ended.
Flight controllers cheered, hugged one another and exchanged high fives.
By Shiloh Payne
Here's a video from when NASA launched DART last year
NASA is testing whether the spacecraft could alter an asteroid's path.
By Shiloh Payne
Did the crash actually happen in real time?
Awesome footage! Hi, I was wondering how long the lag would be on the live stream? (How long the video signal takes to travel 9.6 million km)
- Clint
Hey Clint,
So we were actually watching a series of images being sent through rather than a video stream.
And they were sent back to earth every second, which is why it looked so smooth.
Incredible isn't it?
By Shiloh Payne
Some more of your thoughts
All for space exploration of course,! However ?? We won’t have a planet to save if we don’t get serious right now about this one !! My young childrens generation will be the last by the time their young adults , naive arrogance will run out !! - Max
Had to close my eyes hard there for a sec! We live! - Natty
Wouldn’t the $488 million be better utilised within the country. Helping people get off the streets and countless other worthwhile projects. Hospitals. Education etc. What a wasteful country. Or do they know something we don’t know? - Waste
By Shiloh Payne
Astronomer describes impact as "full bullseye"
Rebecca Allen, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology, described the impact as an "incredible moment" and "full bullseye".
"NASA doesn't disappoint with the precision of the impact of the DART spacecraft," Dr Allen says.
" You have to feel a little bit bad for Dimorphos which just woke up this morning not realising its entire orbit will end."
She described it as a "really important test"
"It did take 10 months for the spacecraft to reach the system, and so we have to factor in the amount of time and planning that went in years before this mission launched, and then the time it actually takes for the spacecraft to reach the system, and then that critical moment, especially with the autonomous positioning system there, and so there is still a lot of factors."
By Shiloh Payne
So, what happens now?
We've seen the DART spacecraft smash directly into the moonlet with the aim of bumping it hard enough to shift its orbital track around the larger asteroid.
While the impact was immediately obvious — with DART's radio signal abruptly ceasing — it will be days or even weeks to determine how much the asteroid’s path was changed.
Telescopes will need anywhere from a few days to nearly a month to verify the new orbit.
The anticipated orbital shift of 1 per cent might not sound like much, scientists noted.
But they stressed it would amount to a significant change over years.
