#asteroidimpactavoidance

NASA is always looking for new ideas, and it’s just selected the latest projects to fund under its Innovative Advanced Concepts program. Six research teams earned Phase II grants to continue developing their futuristic designs, which include a strategy for destroying Earth-threatening asteroids and a plan to let… Read more…

Last fall, NASA’s DART spacecraft smashed into Dimorphos, a small asteroid some 7 million miles away, in an unprecedented attempt to change the orbit of a natural body in space. Now, two teams of astronomers have released images of the collision’s aftermath taken by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large… Read more…

Rubble pile asteroids are more common and durable than previously thought, according to new research. The scientists behind the study say this could pose a problem for planetary defense measures. But there may be reason for optimism, given recent insights gleaned from NASA’s successful DART mission to deflect an… Read more…

An Asteroid Is Passing Earth Today, so Scientists Are Shooting It With Radio Waves

A group of researchers is attempting to bounce radio signals off a 500-foot-wide asteroid during its close flyby of Earth on Tuesday. Read more…

This Asteroid Impact Simulator Lets You Destroy the World

Hundreds of thousands of asteroids lurk in our solar system, and while space agencies track many of them, there’s always the chance that one will suddenly appear on a collision course with Earth. A new app on the website Neal.fun demonstrates what could happen if one smacked into any part of the planet. Read more…

A Powerful Recoil Effect Magnified NASA’s Asteroid Deflection Experiment

Scientists continue to pore over the results of NASA’s stunningly successful DART test to deflect a harmless asteroid. As the latest findings suggest, the recoil created by the blast of debris spewing out from Dimorphos after impact was significant, further boosting the spacecraft’s influence on the asteroid. Read more…

How DART Scientists Know the Experiment to Shove an Asteroid Actually Worked

Earlier this week, NASA announced that its DART spacecraft successfully moved an asteroid by a few dozen feet. This raises a valid question: How the heck did scientists figure this out, given that Dimorphos is nearly 7 million miles away? Needless to say, this task required some clever astronomy and a veritable… Read more…

New Hubble and Webb Images Capture Aftermath of DART Asteroid Smash Up

Fresh images from two famous space-based telescopes are shedding new light on NASA’s DART mission to deflect a harmless asteroid. Read more…