NASA blasted an asteroid in space. It now fears boulders may collide with Mars

NASA Dart Mission Asteroid: A distant asteroid was broken into pieces by NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in space in 2022 as part of a test programmeto deflectcelestial bodies threatening to hitEarth. While the DART mission was the talk of the town at the time, the debris of the asteroid in question isreturning to haunt a planet. Worry not, asEarth is safe but our red neighbourMars is not.

NASA Dart Mission

An asteroid, known as Dimorphos, was knocked off its original orbit and shattered into pieces by NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in a groundbreaking mission. In this mission, it was also proved that the scientists on Earth have the capability to redirect an asteroid if it ever poses a threat to the planet.

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The test ended successfully as NASA was able to prove that a kinetic impactor has the capability of changing an asteroid's orbit and also altering its overall trajectory.

Also Read:James Webb Space Telescope probes binary asteroid system Mors-Somnus in Kuiper Belt to know Neptune's past

In the test, a vending machine-sized spacecraft was launched by NASA at an asteroid system which had two space rocks, Didymos and Dimorphos. The collision of the DART spacecraft reduced the speed of Dimorphos' orbit time around Didymos by 32 minutes and 42 seconds.

Humans generate a meteor storm

In a paper, which was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the researchers said that the pieces of Dimorphos can enter the thin atmosphere of Mars and even hit its surface, where it will create craters.

The study, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, has stated the myriad ways in which these boulders are likely to orbit around the Sun in the next 20,000 years. However, the scientists failed to find any possibility of them getting burnt up in the skies of the Earth.

Watch:Collision with NASA spacecraft altered shape of asteroid

A near-Earth object dynamicist at the European Space Agency’s Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre study author Marco Fenucci said, "But they’re going to cross the orbit of Mars."

They added that if by any chance both Mars and the mini-asteroids meet at a crossing, some of them will enter its thin atmosphere. “And they will arrive to the ground and make a crater,” said Fenucci.

This is the first time humans have generated their own meteor storm which is likely to end up hitting a rocky planet.

(With inputs from agencies)