"DART Mission Altered Asteroid Dimorphos' Orbit and Shape, NASA Study Reveals"
TL;DR Summary
New research confirms that NASA's DART spacecraft crash into the asteroid Dimorphos not only changed its orbit but also reshaped it into a weaker, rubble-like form. The latest study, based on observations from ground-based telescopes and DART spacecraft data, suggests that the asteroid's shape changed from mostly round to a triaxial ellipsoid, resembling a watermelon. The European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft plans to launch in October 2026 to conduct further detailed studies of Dimorphos and its parent asteroid, Didymos.
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- DART Changed the Shape of Asteroid Dimorphos, not Just its Orbit Universe Today
- New study finds that DART changed both orbit and shape of Dimorphos asteroid - NASASpaceFlight.com NASASpaceflight.com
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