Nasa launched a satellite into outer space in hopes to hit an asteroid named Dimorphous. Nasa was aiming for the asteroid to test the earth’s planetary defense systems. The operation was called DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) and the satellite was launched on November 24, 2021 and made contact on September 26, 2022. Nasa reports that the mission was successful but it may take up to several weeks to notice the changes. The dart satellite crashed into the asteroid at nearly 14,000 MPH and the spacecraft was destroyed on impact.

Dimorphous was not a harm to the earth but was targeted to test the world’s planetary defense systems. The purpose of the Dart mission was to knock Dimorphous off of its trajectory just in case the defense system is ever needed. It was designed to assess how much a spacecraft’s impact deflects an asteroid through a transfer of momentum. The asteroid was 7 million miles away and took 10 months to collide.

Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) was the prime contractor for the construction, launch, and operation of the DART spacecraft with a project cost of $110 million USD (United States Dollars) The contract was awarded in June 2001 and the satellite took about 21 years to build. Overall the DART project was a great success and now we can not be worried that our planet is in harm for now.