NASA’s DART Mission Changed Orbit of Asteroid Didymos Around Sun

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:10:24 -0300

A new research revealed that when NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft intentionally impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in September 2022, it didn’t just change the motion of Dimorphos around its larger companion, Didymos; the crash also shifted the orbit of both asteroids around the Sun. Linked together by gravity, Didymos and Dimorphos orbit each other around a shared center of mass in a configuration known as a binary system, so changes to one asteroid affect the other.

The Italian Space Agency’s LICIACube traveled alongside NASA’s DART to capture the spacecraft’s collision with Dimorphos. In this LICIACube, taken moments after impact on september 26, 2022, rocky debris can be seen fanning out from the smaller asteroid below its larger binary partner, Didymos. Image credit: ASI/NASA

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NASA’s DART Mission Changed Orbit of Asteroid Didymos Around Sun