Asteroid-Smashing NASA Mission Sped Up Space Rocks' Journey Around the Sun

[reACTIONary]

Asteroid-Smashing NASA Mission Sped Up Space Rocks’ Journey Around the Sun

New data about the DART spacecraft’s effects adds evidence that Earth could be defended from future deadly asteroids by diverting their orbits.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/science/nasa-dart-asteroid-sun-orbit.html?unlocked_article_code=1.RVA.No8j.kBCoTsPuoXeg&smid=url-share

[lastlib]

1. IF we find them in time.......

Aye, there's the rub. Asteroids aren't easy to find if they're dark or small.

[reACTIONary]

2. Very true! We may get there.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEO_Surveyor

In 2005, the U.S. Congress mandated NASA to achieve by the year 2020 specific levels of search completeness for discovering, cataloging, and characterizing dangerous asteroids larger than 140 m (460 ft) but it never appropriated specific funds for this effort. NASA did not prioritize this unfunded mandate, and directed the NEO effort to compete against science missions for general funds not earmarked for planetary defense and disaster mitigation planning.

Following calls to fully fund the mission outside NASA's Planetary Science Division or directly from Congress itself, NASA decided that instead of competing for funding, NEOCam will be implemented under the name NEO Surveillance Mission with budget from NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, within the Planetary Science Division.

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DART was a crossover mission with science (planetary / small body), planetary defense, and engineering objectives. Engineering objectives were technology demonstrations of the NEXT-C ion thruster, and of a soft roll up "window shade" solar array.

[lastlib]

3. Thanks for sharing!

I wasn't up on this.