How NASA Moved an Asteroid: The DART Mission Results

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Well, after that, astronomers around the world started measuring the orbit of Didymorphos very carefully. Before the collision, it took 11 hours and 55 minutes to circle Didymos. After the impact, it took 11 hours and 23 minutes.

[00:00:14]That's an impressive 32-minute difference.

[00:00:18]The interesting part was that the spacecraft alone wasn't responsible for all of that shift. When DART struck the surface, it threw tons of rocky material outward. All that rock and dust blasting off gave the asteroid an extra push, stronger than the spacecraft alone could have done.

[00:00:35]Scientists later realized that Didymorphos wasn't a solid chunk of rock. It was more like a loose pile of rubble held together by gravity.