---
title: "NASA Pleased With the Degree to Which It Kicked This Asteroid’s A**"
description: "NASA is very pleased with just how much material was released when it intentionally smashed its DART spacecraft into an asteroid in September."
date: "2022-12-17"
modified: "2022-12-17"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-smashed-asteroid-dimorphos"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "asteroid"
  - "dart"
  - "NASA"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA Pleased With the Degree to Which It Kicked This Asteroid’s A\*\*

![NASA is very pleased with just how much material was released when it intentionally smashed its DART spacecraft into an asteroid in September.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/nasa-smashed-asteroid-dimorphos.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/Futurism\</em\>*

## Orbital Billiards

NASA is very pleased with the degree to which it rocked an asteroid's shit. The agency is pleasantly surprised by how much material was released when it [intentionally smashed](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/video-nasa-dart-smashing-asteroid>) its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos in September, [*CNN* reports](<https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/15/world/dart-mission-momentum-results-scn/index.html>) — a groundbreaking and asteroid-shattering effort to find a way to keep a killer space rock from colliding with Earth, dinosaur extinction style.

The collision indeed managed to deflect Dimorphos, successfully changing its trajectory — while also releasing copious amounts of dust and loose rock.

In fact, according to the latest estimates, DART displaced some two million pounds of debris.

## Smashed to Bits

NASA is hailing the pandemonium it caused millions of miles away as a resounding success.

'What we can learn from the DART mission is all part of a NASA’s overarching work to understand asteroids and other small bodies in our Solar System," said Tom Statler, program scientist for DART at NASA, [earlier this year](<https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-dart-mission-impact-changed-asteroid-s-motion-in-space/>).

"Impacting the asteroid was just the start," he added. "Now we use the observations to study what these bodies are made of and how they were formed — as well as how to defend our planet should there ever be an asteroid headed our way."

Observations from both ground- and space-based observatories [captured the sheer amount of debris](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/webb-hubble-nasa-asteroid-dart>) created by the collision.

According to the DART team, it's precisely *because* of all of this loosened debris that the spacecraft was able to change the asteroid's trajectory. In other words, if Diomorphos had simply absorbed the spacecraft's impact, its trajectory would've changed significantly less.

"Momentum transfer is one of the most important things we can measure, because it is information we would need to develop an impactor mission to divert a threating asteroid," said Andy Cheng, DART investigation team lead, in a [statement](<https://civspace.jhuapl.edu/stories/scientists-following-dusty-tail-shape-story-darts-impact>) this week.

The more data that rolls in, the better picture we're able to get of the violent event — a nudge that may just save humanity from certain destruction one day.

**READ MORE:** [‘Rail cars’ of material released after NASA spacecraft hit asteroid](<https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/15/world/dart-mission-momentum-results-scn/index.html>) \[*CNN*\]

**More on DART:** *[Webb and Hubble Release Amazing Views of NASA's Asteroid Collision](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/webb-hubble-nasa-asteroid-dart>)*

## 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](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)