In September 2022, NASA deliberately crashed its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft into a tiny asteroid called Dimorphos, a landmark test to see if we could divert potentially dangerous space rocks in the future.
The collision was powerful enough to knock Dimorphos out of orbit, releasing a large amount of dust and loose rock in the process, as shown by spectacular images taken by NASA's Hubble and Webb Space Telescopes.
Now, scientists simulating space rocks have shown that Dimorphos' shape may be changing after a brutal impact, and even "healing," as ScienceAlert puts it.
In a new article published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the researchers believe that the European Space Agency's upcoming Hera mission to the impact site "may reveal a reshaped asteroid rather than a well-defined crater."
The simulation supports the theory that the asteroid is nothing more than a "fragile" pile of "rubble" formed from loose rock shed by Dimorphos' larger binary twin, Didymos, which could have a significant impact on future asteroid redirection efforts.
A team of scientists, led by planetary scientist Sabina Raducan at the University of Bern in Switzerland, simulated Dimorphos and DART to explain the effects of the observed collision on space rocks.
According to their research, the impact left huge marks on the suspected "rubble pile".
*, reads: "Our simulations show that the DART impact resulted in the overall deformation and resurface remodeling of Dimorphos. ”
**10,000 Fans Incentive Program The researchers believe that Dimorphos is formed by accretion of fine particles from its larger cousin, Didymos, "over a period of days to several years", which could mean that other similarly formed asteroid moons can also be "easily reshaped" and that their surfaces are "relatively young".
"Overall, the results of this study provide valuable information for understanding the formation and characteristics of binary asteroids and will inform future exploration and asteroid deflection efforts," the researchers wrote in **. ”