What is the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission?

About DART Mission:

• NASA's DART mission was a spacecraft designed to test a method of deflecting an asteroid for planetary defense, using the "kinetic impactor" technique (in simplest terms means smashing a thing into another thing).
• DART was the first-ever space mission to demonstrate asteroid deflection by kinetic impactor.
• The target of the spacecraft was a 160-meter-wide asteroid known as Dimorphos, which is a moonlet in orbit around the larger asteroid, Didymos.
• It was launched in November 2021.
• DART spacecraft successfully collided with Dimorphos on 26 September 2022, altering the asteroid's orbit by 33 minutes.
• It is the first time humanity intentionally changed the motion of a celestial object in space.

 

What are Boulders?

• It is a geological term for a rock fragment that is larger than 25.6 centimeters (10.1 inches) in diameter.
• Boulders can be made up of various types of rocks, including igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.
• The composition of a boulder depends on the geology of the area in which it formed.

 

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Q1) What is an Asteroid?

An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun in our solar system. These objects are remnants from the early formation of the solar system, dating back over 4.6 billion years. Most asteroids can be found in the asteroid belt, which is a region located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Source: Hubble spots 37 boulders escaping asteroid Deimorphos months after Dart crash