NASA’s successful mission has therefore been studied by various teams of scientists to analyze the fallout from such a defense process.
LJohns Hopkins University for example concludes what “the resulting change in Dimorphos’ orbit demonstrates that kinetic impactor technology is a viable technique to potentially defend Earth if needed“.
The team of Planetary Science Institute observed the consequences of the accident using the Hubble Space Telescope and provided “a framework for understanding the fundamental mechanisms acting on asteroids disrupted by natural impact“.
Finally, two other studies analyzed the asteroid before, during and following the impact and the deviation of its trajectory. Their conclusions confirm the other two: NASA succeeded in the mission.
It is important to note that NASA does not foresee any known risk of an asteroid having a serious impact on our planet within the next 100 years. But NASA’s next mission might have some surprises in store for us: “we really need to focus on finding currently undiscovered near-Earth asteroids“, concludes Cristina Thomas.
