Thread by @I_am_the_Story

⭐️#NASA's #asteroid deflection test that saw it intentionally crash a #spacecraft into a space rock was a SUCCESS – shaving 33 minutes off the rock's orbit
dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ar…

1. The #US #space agency's refrigerator-sized satellite managed to shave 33 minutes off the orbit of a 520ft-wide (160m) asteroid known as Dimorphos when it careered into it at 14,000mph (22,000km/h) in September last year.

2. That is nearly five times greater than predicted and more than 25 times the change in orbital period required for the mission to be considered a success.
Dimorphos orbits a much larger 2,550ft-wide (780m) object called Didymos 6.8 million miles from #Earth.

3. Before impact, the time taken for the moonlet Dimorphos to make one circuit of its sibling was 11 hours and 55 minutes, but now it takes 11 hours and 22 minutes.

4. NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was kinetic impact was highly effective for deflecting the asteroid Dimorphos.' Researchers say understanding how DART's impact changed the orbit of the moon sheds light on

4(a) how this approach might be able to provide a defence system against potential space rock collisions with Earth.