Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)
Double Asteroid Redirection Test
Type
Impact
Launch
Nov. 24, 2021
Target
Didymos & Dimorphos
Objective
Impact asteroid moonlet Dimorphos
On Sept. 26, 2022, DART impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, a small body just 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter. It orbits a larger, 2,560-foot (780-meter) asteroid called Didymos.
Credit: NASA
What Was DART?
DART was the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.
| Goals | Demonstrate asteroid deflection with a kinetic impactor |
| Launch | 10:21 p.m. PST, Nov. 23, 2021, (1:21 a.m. EST, Nov. 24), aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California |
| Science Targets | Asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos |
| Type | Impact on Sept. 26, 2022 |
| Funding Agency | NASA |
| Related Websites | DART Mission Website NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office NASA Space Science DATA Coordinated Archive: DART |
