Scientific American – Mind

NASA Changed an Asteroid’s Orbital Path Around the Sun, a First for Humankind

In September 2022 NASA’s DART spacecraft slammed into Dimorphos, the smaller member of the Didymos binary, deliberately altering its orbit. New analysis published in Science Advances shows the impact also slowed the entire binary system’s heliocentric speed by roughly 12 microns per second—about 370 metres per year—marking the first human‑induced change to an object’s solar orbit. The study quantified a momentum‑enhancement factor that doubled the spacecraft’s push and provided the first separate mass estimates for Didymos and Dimorphos. These findings lay groundwork for future planetary‑defense strategies and upcoming ESA Hera observations.