articleNatureMar 1, 2023HYBRID OA

Momentum transfer from the DART mission kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos

AFA. F. ChengHAHarrison AgrusaBWBrent W. BarbeeAJAlex J. MeyerTLT. L. Farnham

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory · University of Maryland, College Park · +36 more institutions

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Indexed inarxivcrossrefpubmed

Abstract

Abstract The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission performed a kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos, the satellite of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, at 23:14 UTC on 26 September 2022 as a planetary defence test 1 . DART was the first hypervelocity impact experiment on an asteroid at size and velocity scales relevant to planetary defence, intended to validate kinetic impact as a means of asteroid deflection. Here we report a determination of the momentum transferred to an asteroid by kinetic impact. On the basis of the change in the binary orbit period 2 , we find an instantaneous reduction in Dimorphos’s along-track orbital velocity component of 2.70 ± 0.10 mm s −1 , indicating enhanced…

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Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Ejecta
  • Kinetic energy
  • Asteroid
  • Physics
  • Dart
  • Hypervelocity
  • Projectile
  • Astronomy
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