Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

Double Asteroid Redirection Test

past Mission

Type

Impact

Launch

Nov. 24, 2021

Target

Didymos & Dimorphos

Objective

Impact asteroid moonlet Dimorphos

DART was the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.

DART Launches
On Sept. 26, 2022, DART impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, a small body just 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter. It orbits a larger, 2,560-foot (780-meter) asteroid called Didymos.
Credit: NASA

What Was DART?

DART was the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of asteroid deflection by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.

Goals
Demonstrate asteroid deflection with a kinetic impactor
Launch
10:21 p.m. PST, Nov. 23, 2021, (1:21 a.m. EST, Nov. 24), aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
Science Targets
Asteroid Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos
Type
Impact on Sept. 26, 2022
Funding
Agency
NASA
Related Websites
DART mission - APL

DART Stories

Explore All DART Stories
Article
2 min read

NASA’s DART Team Earns AIAA Space Systems Award for Pioneering Mission

APL's Geffrey Ottman (left), electrical systems engineer on NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) and APL's Betsy Congdon (center), who served as the mechanical systems engineer on the mission, accepted the 2024 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space Systems Award
Article
5 min read

NASA’s DART Mission Sheds New Light on Target Binary Asteroid System

The asteroid’s triangular ridge (first panel from left), and the so-called smooth region, and its likely older, rougher “highland” region (second panel from left) can be explained through a combination of slope processes controlled by elevation (third panel from left). The fourth panel shows the effects of spin-up disruption that Didymos likely underwent to form Dimorphos.
This artist’s concept shows ESA’s Hera spacecraft and its CubeSats in orbit around the Dimorphos moonlet
3 min read

NASA Selects Participating Scientists to Join ESA’s Hera Mission

Article6 months ago
4 min read

NASA, Partners Conduct Fifth Asteroid Impact Exercise, Release Summary

News Release
5 min read

NASA Study: Asteroid’s Orbit, Shape Changed After DART Impact

Article9 months ago
Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

Perseverance Rover

Parker Solar Probe

Juno