We're Sending a Spacecraft Back to the Asteroid We Hit - Why?

After smashing a spacecraft into an asteroid, scientists are heading back to see what really changed and whether humanity can actually deflect space threats. The original impact was part of DART mission, a bold experiment that successfully altered an asteroid’s orbit for the first time in history. Now, a follow-up mission will analyze the crater, debris, and long-term effects in incredible detail. This could be the key to protecting Earth from future asteroid collisions and understanding how these space rocks behave after impact. Watch now to find out why going back might be even more important than the first hit.

Credit:
Telescopic Observations: By NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Jon Emmerich/Candece Seling and Nate Rudolph - https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Gallery/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Telescopic_Observations_An_animation_illustrati[…]uring_the_changing_brightness_of_the_system_over_time.webm
Collision with Dimorphos: By NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Jon Emmerich - https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Gallery/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DART%27s_Collision_with_Dimorphos_(side_view)_A[…]_mission,_the_Double_Asteroid_Redirection_Test_(DART).webm
Roll Out Solar Array: By NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Lee Hobson - https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Gallery/media/videos/Behind_the_Scenes_Inspecting_DART_s_Roll_Out_Solar_Array_ROSA_Technology.mp4, https://tinyurl.com/35e495pk
DART AnimatedSequence: By NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben/Jessica Tozer - https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Gallery/media/videos/DART_AnimatedSequence-2020.mp4, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DART_AnimatedSequence-2020_from_launch_to_impact_along_with_separation_of_LICIACube.webm
The Mandalorian / Fairview Entertainment
DART's impact: By NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Jon Emmerich - https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Gallery/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orbital_effect_of_DART%27s_impact_on_Dimorphos.webm
Didymos and Dimorphos: By NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/JPL/NASA JPL Goldstone Planetary Radar/National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Observatory - https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-dart-imagery-shows-changed-orbit-of-target-asteroid, https://tinyurl.com/2ab4926h
NASA-Animation-ARM: By NASA - https://www.nasa.gov/content/asteroid-redirect-mission-planetary-defense-demonstration/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NASA-Animation-ARM-opt-800-20150325.gif
CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0:
DART impact ejecta captured: By semeion.photo - https://flic.kr/p/2p5yjEZ, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=138178625
CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0:
DART-impact: By Dr Nicolas Erasmus (SAAO) and Amanda Sickafoose (Planetary Science Institute) using the Mookodi instrument on the (South African Astronomical Observatory) SAAO's 1-m Lesedi telescope, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125801523
Hera around Sun: By Phoenix7777 - HORIZONS System, JPL, NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=153547918
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0:
Hubble captures DART: By ESA/Hubble - https://www.spacetelescope.org/public/images/heic2302c, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=130798954
Dimorphos final images: By Chabot et al. 2024/The Planetary Science Journal/JHUAPL/SwRI - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ad16e6#psjad16e6f3, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=146011059
Hera spacecraft design: By Patrick Michel, Michael Küppers, Adriano Campo Bagatin, Benoit Carry, Sébastien Charnoz, Julia de Leon, Alan Fitzsimmons, Paulo Gordo, Simon F. Green, Alain Hérique - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ac6f52, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=138891441
CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/:
Hera in orbit: By ESA – Science Office - https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2015/04/Hera_in_orbit, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90615536
Hera glides past Didymos: By ESA – Science Office, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90615537
Animation is created by Bright Side.