"NASA's DART Mission Uncovers Swarming Boulders Near Asteroid Impact"

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) experiment, which involved crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid, revealed a surprising discovery. After the impact, scientists observed 37 boulders ranging in size from 3 to 22 feet being flung off the asteroid. This suggests that attempting to redirect or destroy an Earth-approaching asteroid could result in a cluster of threatening boulders heading towards Earth. The boulders, which have about the same mass as 0.1% of the asteroid, are slowly moving away from it. Further observations and studies will be conducted to understand the exact mechanisms behind this phenomenon.