NASA's asteroid-impacting DART mission completely changed the shape of its target

An illustration of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, as it approaches its target moonlet around the asteroid Didymos. .

Scientists have discovered that the target asteroid of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) may have been reshaped by the impact. A new investigation into the collision's aftermath revealed that the asteroid, which is the smaller component of a binary asteroid system, exhibits a loose "rubble-pile" composition.

DART slammed into the moonlet Dimorphos, which orbits the larger space rock Didymos, on Sept. 26, 2023. The aim of this cosmic assault was to see if a kinetic impact could shift an asteroid's trajectory around a larger object and verify that this method could be used to shunt a space rock someday if its path fell on a collision course with Earth.