DART mission asteroid 'healed' after space probe's impact: Study

Asteroids are fun to study and look at and so on... only till they don't collide with Earth. In case they do, we have plans ready to prevent total annihilation of human civilization as we know it. But these plans aren't fool-proof. So studies continue to enhance our knowledge of asteroids and how to tackle a nasty one who may one day cross our path.

An interesting phenomenon in this regard has been observed, that of an asteroid 'healing' itself after impact.

NASA rammed its DART probe ( Double Asteroid Redirection Test) into the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022. The shape of the tiny asteroid changed considerably after the impact.

The mission was carried out as a test of our abilities to change the trajectory of an asteroid by ramming a spacecraft into it. This may come handy in a future mission in which we would ram such an object into an incoming asteroid, averting its collission with Earth and preventing end of humanity.

After the DART mission, a subsequent mission will be sent to observe Dimorphos. It is likely that the mission will find a 'healed' pile of rocks instead of an impact crater as it was left by DART.

A study led by planetary scientist Sabina Raducan from University of Bern made a simulation of the collision between DART probe and Dimorphos. They tried to replicate result of the actual collision. The results were consistent with what was actually obtained during the acrtual collision.

According to the simulation, it is predicted by the scientists that DART collision didn't create an impact crater that lasted for a long time. But the material which forms the asteroid 'healed' (or bounced back) after some time period.

This confirms what scientists think, Dimorphos is made of loose material of lesser density.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is launching the Hera Mission later this year to study Dimorphos and Didymos, another asteroid around which Dimorphos revolves. This is likely to shed more light on these two space rocks.

The current study has been published in Nature Astronomy.

(With inputs from agencies)