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

Article5 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

Article8 months ago
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