Momentum transfer from the DART mission kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos

Andrew F. Cheng; Harrison F. Agrusa; Brent W. Barbee; Alex J. Meyer; Tony L. Farnham; Sabina D. Raducan; Derek C. Richardson; Elisabetta Dotto; Angelo Zinzi; Vincenzo Della Corte; Thomas S. Statler; Steven Chesley; Shantanu P. Naidu; Masatoshi Hirabayashi; Jian Yang Li; Siegfried Eggl; Olivier S. Barnouin; Nancy L. Chabot; Sidney Chocron; Gareth S. Collins; R. Terik Daly; Thomas M. Davison; Mallory E. DeCoster; Carolyn M. Ernst; Fabio Ferrari; Dawn M. Graninger; Seth A. Jacobson; Martin Jutzi; Kathryn M. Kumamoto; Robert Luther; Joshua R. Lyzhoft; Patrick Michel; Naomi Murdoch; Ryota Nakano; Eric Palmer; Andrew S. Rivkin; Daniel J. Scheeres; Angela M. Stickle; Jessica M. Sunshine; Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez; Jean Baptiste Vincent; James D. Walker; Kai Wünnemann; Yun Zhang; Marilena Amoroso; Ivano Bertini; John R. Brucato; Andrea Capannolo; Gabriele Cremonese; Massimo Dall’Ora; Prasanna J.D. Deshapriya; Igor Gai; Pedro H. Hasselmann; Simone Ieva; Gabriele Impresario; Stavro L. Ivanovski; Michèle Lavagna; Alice Lucchetti; Elena M. Epifani; Dario Modenini; Maurizio Pajola; Pasquale Palumbo; Davide Perna; Simone Pirrotta; Giovanni Poggiali; Alessandro Rossi; Paolo Tortora; Marco Zannoni; Giovanni Zanotti

doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05878-z

Momentum transfer from the DART mission kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos

Andrew F. Cheng, Harrison F. Agrusa, Brent W. Barbee, Alex J. Meyer, Tony L. Farnham, Sabina D. Raducan, Derek C. Richardson, Elisabetta Dotto, Angelo Zinzi, Vincenzo Della Corte, Thomas S. Statler, Steven Chesley, Shantanu P. Naidu, Masatoshi Hirabayashi, Jian Yang Li, Siegfried Eggl, Olivier S. Barnouin, Nancy L. Chabot, Sidney Chocron, Gareth S. CollinsR. Terik Daly, Thomas M. Davison, Mallory E. DeCoster, Carolyn M. Ernst, Fabio Ferrari, Dawn M. Graninger, Seth A. Jacobson, Martin Jutzi, Kathryn M. Kumamoto, Robert Luther, Joshua R. Lyzhoft, Patrick Michel, Naomi Murdoch, Ryota Nakano, Eric Palmer, Andrew S. Rivkin, Daniel J. Scheeres, Angela M. Stickle, Jessica M. Sunshine, Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez, Jean Baptiste Vincent, James D. Walker, Kai Wünnemann, Yun Zhang, Marilena Amoroso, Ivano Bertini, John R. Brucato, Andrea Capannolo, Gabriele Cremonese, Massimo Dall’Ora, Prasanna J.D. Deshapriya, Igor Gai, Pedro H. Hasselmann, Simone Ieva, Gabriele Impresario, Stavro L. Ivanovski, Michèle Lavagna, Alice Lucchetti, Elena M. Epifani, Dario Modenini, Maurizio Pajola, Pasquale Palumbo, Davide Perna, Simone Pirrotta, Giovanni Poggiali, Alessandro Rossi, Paolo Tortora, Marco Zannoni, Giovanni Zanotti

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission performed a kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos, the satellite of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, at 23:14 UTC on 26 September 2022 as a planetary defence test¹. DART was the first hypervelocity impact experiment on an asteroid at size and velocity scales relevant to planetary defence, intended to validate kinetic impact as a means of asteroid deflection. Here we report a determination of the momentum transferred to an asteroid by kinetic impact. On the basis of the change in the binary orbit period², we find an instantaneous reduction in Dimorphos’s along-track orbital velocity component of 2.70 ± 0.10 mm s⁻¹, indicating enhanced momentum transfer due to recoil from ejecta streams produced by the impact^3,4. For a Dimorphos bulk density range of 1,500 to 3,300 kg m⁻³, we find that the expected value of the momentum enhancement factor, β, ranges between 2.2 and 4.9, depending on the mass of Dimorphos. If Dimorphos and Didymos are assumed to have equal densities of 2,400 kg m⁻³, β=3.61−0.25+0.19(1σ). These β values indicate that substantially more momentum was transferred to Dimorphos from the escaping impact ejecta than was incident with DART. Therefore, the DART kinetic impact was highly effective in deflecting the asteroid Dimorphos.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	457-460
Number of pages	4
Journal	Nature
Volume	616
Issue number	7957
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05878-z
State	Published - Apr 20 2023

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10.1038/s41586-023-05878-z

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Cheng, A. F., Agrusa, H. F., Barbee, B. W., Meyer, A. J., Farnham, T. L., Raducan, S. D., Richardson, D. C., Dotto, E., Zinzi, A., Della Corte, V., Statler, T. S., Chesley, S., Naidu, S. P., Hirabayashi, M., Li, J. Y., Eggl, S., Barnouin, O. S., Chabot, N. L., Chocron, S., ... Zanotti, G. (2023). Momentum transfer from the DART mission kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos. Nature, 616(7957), 457-460. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05878-z

Cheng, AF, Agrusa, HF, Barbee, BW, Meyer, AJ, Farnham, TL, Raducan, SD, Richardson, DC, Dotto, E, Zinzi, A, Della Corte, V, Statler, TS, Chesley, S, Naidu, SP, Hirabayashi, M, Li, JY, Eggl, S, Barnouin, OS, Chabot, NL, Chocron, S, Collins, GS, Daly, RT, Davison, TM, DeCoster, ME, Ernst, CM, Ferrari, F, Graninger, DM, Jacobson, SA, Jutzi, M, Kumamoto, KM, Luther, R, Lyzhoft, JR, Michel, P, Murdoch, N, Nakano, R, Palmer, E, Rivkin, AS, Scheeres, DJ, Stickle, AM, Sunshine, JM, Trigo-Rodriguez, JM, Vincent, JB, Walker, JD, Wünnemann, K, Zhang, Y, Amoroso, M, Bertini, I, Brucato, JR, Capannolo, A, Cremonese, G, Dall’Ora, M, Deshapriya, PJD, Gai, I, Hasselmann, PH, Ieva, S, Impresario, G, Ivanovski, SL, Lavagna, M, Lucchetti, A, Epifani, EM, Modenini, D, Pajola, M, Palumbo, P, Perna, D, Pirrotta, S, Poggiali, G, Rossi, A, Tortora, P, Zannoni, M & Zanotti, G 2023, 'Momentum transfer from the DART mission kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos', Nature, vol. 616, no. 7957, pp. 457-460. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05878-z

@article{d37a75ab91cf404994d22f38a5442bff,

title = "Momentum transfer from the DART mission kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos",

abstract = "The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission performed a kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos, the satellite of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, at 23:14 UTC on 26 September 2022 as a planetary defence test1. DART was the first hypervelocity impact experiment on an asteroid at size and velocity scales relevant to planetary defence, intended to validate kinetic impact as a means of asteroid deflection. Here we report a determination of the momentum transferred to an asteroid by kinetic impact. On the basis of the change in the binary orbit period2, we find an instantaneous reduction in Dimorphos{\textquoteright}s along-track orbital velocity component of 2.70 ± 0.10 mm s−1, indicating enhanced momentum transfer due to recoil from ejecta streams produced by the impact3,4. For a Dimorphos bulk density range of 1,500 to 3,300 kg m−3, we find that the expected value of the momentum enhancement factor, β, ranges between 2.2 and 4.9, depending on the mass of Dimorphos. If Dimorphos and Didymos are assumed to have equal densities of 2,400 kg m−3, β=3.61−0.25+0.19(1σ). These β values indicate that substantially more momentum was transferred to Dimorphos from the escaping impact ejecta than was incident with DART. Therefore, the DART kinetic impact was highly effective in deflecting the asteroid Dimorphos.",

author = "Cheng, {Andrew F.} and Agrusa, {Harrison F.} and Barbee, {Brent W.} and Meyer, {Alex J.} and Farnham, {Tony L.} and Raducan, {Sabina D.} and Richardson, {Derek C.} and Elisabetta Dotto and Angelo Zinzi and {Della Corte}, Vincenzo and Statler, {Thomas S.} and Steven Chesley and Naidu, {Shantanu P.} and Masatoshi Hirabayashi and Li, {Jian Yang} and Siegfried Eggl and Barnouin, {Olivier S.} and Chabot, {Nancy L.} and Sidney Chocron and Collins, {Gareth S.} and Daly, {R. Terik} and Davison, {Thomas M.} and DeCoster, {Mallory E.} and Ernst, {Carolyn M.} and Fabio Ferrari and Graninger, {Dawn M.} and Jacobson, {Seth A.} and Martin Jutzi and Kumamoto, {Kathryn M.} and Robert Luther and Lyzhoft, {Joshua R.} and Patrick Michel and Naomi Murdoch and Ryota Nakano and Eric Palmer and Rivkin, {Andrew S.} and Scheeres, {Daniel J.} and Stickle, {Angela M.} and Sunshine, {Jessica M.} and Trigo-Rodriguez, {Josep M.} and Vincent, {Jean Baptiste} and Walker, {James D.} and Kai W{\"u}nnemann and Yun Zhang and Marilena Amoroso and Ivano Bertini and Brucato, {John R.} and Andrea Capannolo and Gabriele Cremonese and Massimo Dall{\textquoteright}Ora and Deshapriya, {Prasanna J.D.} and Igor Gai and Hasselmann, {Pedro H.} and Simone Ieva and Gabriele Impresario and Ivanovski, {Stavro L.} and Mich{\`e}le Lavagna and Alice Lucchetti and Epifani, {Elena M.} and Dario Modenini and Maurizio Pajola and Pasquale Palumbo and Davide Perna and Simone Pirrotta and Giovanni Poggiali and Alessandro Rossi and Paolo Tortora and Marco Zannoni and Giovanni Zanotti",

note = "Funding Information: We thank S. Marchi, K. T. Ramesh, P. Sanchez, S. Schwartz, J. Steckloff, M. B. Syal and G. Tancredi for their comments on the manuscript. M.Z., I.G., D.M. and P.T. acknowledge D. Lubey, M. Smith and D. Mages for the useful discussions and suggestions regarding the operational navigation of LICIACube. This work was supported by the DART mission, NASA contract no. 80MSFC20D0004. S.D.R. and M.J. acknowledge support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (project number 200021_207359). S.D.R., M.J., R.L., P.M., N.M. and K.W., acknowledge the funding from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement no. 870377 (project no. NEO-MAPP). P.M. acknowledges support from CNES, ESA and the CNRS through the MITI interdisciplinary programmes. N.M. acknowledges support from CNES. E.D., V.D.C., E.M.E., A.R., I.G., P.J.D.D., P.H.H., I.B., A.Z., S.L.I., J.R.B., G.P., A.L., M.P., G.Z., M.A., A.C., G.C., M.D.O., S.I., G.I., M.L., D.M., P.P., D.P., S.P., P.T. and M.Z. acknowledge financial support from Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI, contract no. 2019-31-HH.0). S.E. acknowledges support through NASA grant number 80NSSC22K1173. S.C. and J.D.W. acknowledge support from the Southwest Research Institute{\textquoteright}s internal research programme. G.S.C. and T.M.D. acknowledges support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council grant no. ST/S000615/1. F.F. acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Ambizione grant no. 193346. J.-Y.L. acknowledges the support provided by NASA through grant no. HST-GO-16674 from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract no. NAS 5-26555, and the support from NASA DART Participating Scientist Program, grant no. 80NSSC21K1131. R.N. acknowledges support from NASA/FINESST (grant no. NNH20ZDA001N). J.M.T.-R. acknowledges financial support from project no. PID2021-128062NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI (Spain). Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, for the US Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration under contract nos. DE-AC5207NA27344 and LLNL-JRNL-84276. Simulations were performed on the YORP and ASTRA clusters administered by the Centre for Theory and Computation, part of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland. M.Z., I.G., D.M. and P.T. wish to acknowledge Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for granting the University of Bologna a license for an executable version of MONTE Project Edition S/W. Funding Information: We thank S. Marchi, K. T. Ramesh, P. Sanchez, S. Schwartz, J. Steckloff, M. B. Syal and G. Tancredi for their comments on the manuscript. M.Z., I.G., D.M. and P.T. acknowledge D. Lubey, M. Smith and D. Mages for the useful discussions and suggestions regarding the operational navigation of LICIACube. This work was supported by the DART mission, NASA contract no. 80MSFC20D0004. S.D.R. and M.J. acknowledge support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (project number 200021_207359). S.D.R., M.J., R.L., P.M., N.M. and K.W., acknowledge the funding from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement no. 870377 (project no. NEO-MAPP). P.M. acknowledges support from CNES, ESA and the CNRS through the MITI interdisciplinary programmes. N.M. acknowledges support from CNES. E.D., V.D.C., E.M.E., A.R., I.G., P.J.D.D., P.H.H., I.B., A.Z., S.L.I., J.R.B., G.P., A.L., M.P., G.Z., M.A., A.C., G.C., M.D.O., S.I., G.I., M.L., D.M., P.P., D.P., S.P., P.T. and M.Z. acknowledge financial support from Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI, contract no. 2019-31-HH.0). S.E. acknowledges support through NASA grant number 80NSSC22K1173. S.C. and J.D.W. acknowledge support from the Southwest Research Institute{\textquoteright}s internal research programme. G.S.C. and T.M.D. acknowledges support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council grant no. ST/S000615/1. F.F. acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Ambizione grant no. 193346. J.-Y.L. acknowledges the support provided by NASA through grant no. HST-GO-16674 from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract no. NAS 5-26555, and the support from NASA DART Participating Scientist Program, grant no. 80NSSC21K1131. R.N. acknowledges support from NASA/FINESST (grant no. NNH20ZDA001N). J.M.T.-R. acknowledges financial support from project no. PID2021-128062NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI (Spain). Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, for the US Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration under contract nos. DE-AC5207NA27344 and LLNL-JRNL-84276. Simulations were performed on the YORP and ASTRA clusters administered by the Centre for Theory and Computation, part of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland. M.Z., I.G., D.M. and P.T. wish to acknowledge Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for granting the University of Bologna a license for an executable version of MONTE Project Edition S/W. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",

year = "2023",

month = apr,

day = "20",

doi = "10.1038/s41586-023-05878-z",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "616",

pages = "457--460",

journal = "Nature",

issn = "0028-0836",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

number = "7957",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Momentum transfer from the DART mission kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos

AU - Cheng, Andrew F.

AU - Agrusa, Harrison F.

AU - Barbee, Brent W.

AU - Meyer, Alex J.

AU - Farnham, Tony L.

AU - Raducan, Sabina D.

AU - Richardson, Derek C.

AU - Dotto, Elisabetta

AU - Zinzi, Angelo

AU - Della Corte, Vincenzo

AU - Statler, Thomas S.

AU - Chesley, Steven

AU - Naidu, Shantanu P.

AU - Hirabayashi, Masatoshi

AU - Li, Jian Yang

AU - Eggl, Siegfried

AU - Barnouin, Olivier S.

AU - Chabot, Nancy L.

AU - Chocron, Sidney

AU - Collins, Gareth S.

AU - Daly, R. Terik

AU - Davison, Thomas M.

AU - DeCoster, Mallory E.

AU - Ernst, Carolyn M.

AU - Ferrari, Fabio

AU - Graninger, Dawn M.

AU - Jacobson, Seth A.

AU - Jutzi, Martin

AU - Kumamoto, Kathryn M.

AU - Luther, Robert

AU - Lyzhoft, Joshua R.

AU - Michel, Patrick

AU - Murdoch, Naomi

AU - Nakano, Ryota

AU - Palmer, Eric

AU - Rivkin, Andrew S.

AU - Scheeres, Daniel J.

AU - Stickle, Angela M.

AU - Sunshine, Jessica M.

AU - Trigo-Rodriguez, Josep M.

AU - Vincent, Jean Baptiste

AU - Walker, James D.

AU - Wünnemann, Kai

AU - Zhang, Yun

AU - Amoroso, Marilena

AU - Bertini, Ivano

AU - Brucato, John R.

AU - Capannolo, Andrea

AU - Cremonese, Gabriele

AU - Dall’Ora, Massimo

AU - Deshapriya, Prasanna J.D.

AU - Gai, Igor

AU - Hasselmann, Pedro H.

AU - Ieva, Simone

AU - Impresario, Gabriele

AU - Ivanovski, Stavro L.

AU - Lavagna, Michèle

AU - Lucchetti, Alice

AU - Epifani, Elena M.

AU - Modenini, Dario

AU - Pajola, Maurizio

AU - Palumbo, Pasquale

AU - Perna, Davide

AU - Pirrotta, Simone

AU - Poggiali, Giovanni

AU - Rossi, Alessandro

AU - Tortora, Paolo

AU - Zannoni, Marco

AU - Zanotti, Giovanni

N1 - Funding Information: We thank S. Marchi, K. T. Ramesh, P. Sanchez, S. Schwartz, J. Steckloff, M. B. Syal and G. Tancredi for their comments on the manuscript. M.Z., I.G., D.M. and P.T. acknowledge D. Lubey, M. Smith and D. Mages for the useful discussions and suggestions regarding the operational navigation of LICIACube. This work was supported by the DART mission, NASA contract no. 80MSFC20D0004. S.D.R. and M.J. acknowledge support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (project number 200021_207359). S.D.R., M.J., R.L., P.M., N.M. and K.W., acknowledge the funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement no. 870377 (project no. NEO-MAPP). P.M. acknowledges support from CNES, ESA and the CNRS through the MITI interdisciplinary programmes. N.M. acknowledges support from CNES. E.D., V.D.C., E.M.E., A.R., I.G., P.J.D.D., P.H.H., I.B., A.Z., S.L.I., J.R.B., G.P., A.L., M.P., G.Z., M.A., A.C., G.C., M.D.O., S.I., G.I., M.L., D.M., P.P., D.P., S.P., P.T. and M.Z. acknowledge financial support from Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI, contract no. 2019-31-HH.0). S.E. acknowledges support through NASA grant number 80NSSC22K1173. S.C. and J.D.W. acknowledge support from the Southwest Research Institute’s internal research programme. G.S.C. and T.M.D. acknowledges support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council grant no. ST/S000615/1. F.F. acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Ambizione grant no. 193346. J.-Y.L. acknowledges the support provided by NASA through grant no. HST-GO-16674 from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract no. NAS 5-26555, and the support from NASA DART Participating Scientist Program, grant no. 80NSSC21K1131. R.N. acknowledges support from NASA/FINESST (grant no. NNH20ZDA001N). J.M.T.-R. acknowledges financial support from project no. PID2021-128062NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI (Spain). Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, for the US Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration under contract nos. DE-AC5207NA27344 and LLNL-JRNL-84276. Simulations were performed on the YORP and ASTRA clusters administered by the Centre for Theory and Computation, part of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland. M.Z., I.G., D.M. and P.T. wish to acknowledge Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for granting the University of Bologna a license for an executable version of MONTE Project Edition S/W. Funding Information: We thank S. Marchi, K. T. Ramesh, P. Sanchez, S. Schwartz, J. Steckloff, M. B. Syal and G. Tancredi for their comments on the manuscript. M.Z., I.G., D.M. and P.T. acknowledge D. Lubey, M. Smith and D. Mages for the useful discussions and suggestions regarding the operational navigation of LICIACube. This work was supported by the DART mission, NASA contract no. 80MSFC20D0004. S.D.R. and M.J. acknowledge support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (project number 200021_207359). S.D.R., M.J., R.L., P.M., N.M. and K.W., acknowledge the funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement no. 870377 (project no. NEO-MAPP). P.M. acknowledges support from CNES, ESA and the CNRS through the MITI interdisciplinary programmes. N.M. acknowledges support from CNES. E.D., V.D.C., E.M.E., A.R., I.G., P.J.D.D., P.H.H., I.B., A.Z., S.L.I., J.R.B., G.P., A.L., M.P., G.Z., M.A., A.C., G.C., M.D.O., S.I., G.I., M.L., D.M., P.P., D.P., S.P., P.T. and M.Z. acknowledge financial support from Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI, contract no. 2019-31-HH.0). S.E. acknowledges support through NASA grant number 80NSSC22K1173. S.C. and J.D.W. acknowledge support from the Southwest Research Institute’s internal research programme. G.S.C. and T.M.D. acknowledges support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council grant no. ST/S000615/1. F.F. acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Ambizione grant no. 193346. J.-Y.L. acknowledges the support provided by NASA through grant no. HST-GO-16674 from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract no. NAS 5-26555, and the support from NASA DART Participating Scientist Program, grant no. 80NSSC21K1131. R.N. acknowledges support from NASA/FINESST (grant no. NNH20ZDA001N). J.M.T.-R. acknowledges financial support from project no. PID2021-128062NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI (Spain). Part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, for the US Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration under contract nos. DE-AC5207NA27344 and LLNL-JRNL-84276. Simulations were performed on the YORP and ASTRA clusters administered by the Centre for Theory and Computation, part of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland. M.Z., I.G., D.M. and P.T. wish to acknowledge Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for granting the University of Bologna a license for an executable version of MONTE Project Edition S/W. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2023/4/20

Y1 - 2023/4/20

N2 - The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission performed a kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos, the satellite of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, at 23:14 UTC on 26 September 2022 as a planetary defence test1. DART was the first hypervelocity impact experiment on an asteroid at size and velocity scales relevant to planetary defence, intended to validate kinetic impact as a means of asteroid deflection. Here we report a determination of the momentum transferred to an asteroid by kinetic impact. On the basis of the change in the binary orbit period2, we find an instantaneous reduction in Dimorphos’s along-track orbital velocity component of 2.70 ± 0.10 mm s−1, indicating enhanced momentum transfer due to recoil from ejecta streams produced by the impact3,4. For a Dimorphos bulk density range of 1,500 to 3,300 kg m−3, we find that the expected value of the momentum enhancement factor, β, ranges between 2.2 and 4.9, depending on the mass of Dimorphos. If Dimorphos and Didymos are assumed to have equal densities of 2,400 kg m−3, β=3.61−0.25+0.19(1σ). These β values indicate that substantially more momentum was transferred to Dimorphos from the escaping impact ejecta than was incident with DART. Therefore, the DART kinetic impact was highly effective in deflecting the asteroid Dimorphos.

AB - The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission performed a kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos, the satellite of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, at 23:14 UTC on 26 September 2022 as a planetary defence test1. DART was the first hypervelocity impact experiment on an asteroid at size and velocity scales relevant to planetary defence, intended to validate kinetic impact as a means of asteroid deflection. Here we report a determination of the momentum transferred to an asteroid by kinetic impact. On the basis of the change in the binary orbit period2, we find an instantaneous reduction in Dimorphos’s along-track orbital velocity component of 2.70 ± 0.10 mm s−1, indicating enhanced momentum transfer due to recoil from ejecta streams produced by the impact3,4. For a Dimorphos bulk density range of 1,500 to 3,300 kg m−3, we find that the expected value of the momentum enhancement factor, β, ranges between 2.2 and 4.9, depending on the mass of Dimorphos. If Dimorphos and Didymos are assumed to have equal densities of 2,400 kg m−3, β=3.61−0.25+0.19(1σ). These β values indicate that substantially more momentum was transferred to Dimorphos from the escaping impact ejecta than was incident with DART. Therefore, the DART kinetic impact was highly effective in deflecting the asteroid Dimorphos.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150743752&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85150743752&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-023-05878-z

DO - 10.1038/s41586-023-05878-z

M3 - Article

C2 - 36858075

AN - SCOPUS:85150743752

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 616

SP - 457

EP - 460

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 7957

ER -

Momentum transfer from the DART mission kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos

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