--- title: "NASA Intrigued by Asteroid That Seems to Be Shooting Rocks Into Space" description: "Dimorphos' much larger companion asteroid Didymos is spinning so fast that it's capable of ejecting pieces of rubble into deep space." date: "2023-03-30" modified: "2023-03-30" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-intrigued-asteroid-shooting-rocks-into-space" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "asteroids" - "dart" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # NASA Intrigued by Asteroid That Seems to Be Shooting Rocks Into Space ![Dimorphos' much larger companion asteroid Didymos is spinning so fast that it's capable of ejecting pieces of rubble into deep space.]() *\Image: NASA/Futurism\* ## Spin Kick Last year, NASA [rammed]() its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft into a tiny moonlet called Dimorphos, demonstrating a promising way to redirect a potential incoming killer asteroid to save life on Earth. Now, given the huge amount of scrutiny following the collision, scientists have made another surprising discovery: Dimorphos' much larger companion Didymos is spinning so fast, they say, that it's capable of shooting pieces of rubble into space, a puzzling conclusion that highlights the fact that asteroids aren't necessarily the inert lumps of rock they're often thought of, [*Scientific American* reports](). In a [paper]() published earlier this month, a team of planetary scientists suggest that Didymos may be releasing a steady stream of rubble and dust off of its equator as it rotates every two hours and 16 minutes. In simulations, a team led by co-author Adriano Campo Bagatin, a planetary scientist at the University of Alicante in Spain, found that while 97 percent of material that comes off Didymos' surface falls back within around four hours, other larger pieces eventually land on Dimorphos. ## Space Chaos That kind of ejection could be a much larger trend among asteroids, with countless space rocks filling the cosmos with stray smaller pieces of debris as they spin. In fact, it could give us even more pertinent clues as to how planets and other celestial bodies are formed in the first place. Astronomers are now investigating whether Dimorphos was formed in the first place as a result of Didymos flinging dust and bits of rock off its surface. Fortunately, the European Space Agency will soon be getting a much closer look to confirm this hypothesis. The plan is to launch a spacecraft, dubbed [Hera](), sometime next year to rendezvous with the binary asteroid system and study how the asteroids' surfaces change over time — a meeting that may prove riskier for the spacecraft than initially thought due to the potential of stray debris. **More on DART:** *[NASA Pleased With the Degree to Which It Kicked This Asteroid's A\*\*]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()