How to Hit a Binary System Asteroid

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The asteroid you hit was actually one of a pair, a binary system. Why did you go for these two? Because it gives you an experiment that's easier to measure the results of. And so if you change that orbital period by another few minutes or something, then you can measure that effect over days and weeks. If you just pick some random asteroid in space, say it's got an orbit around the sun of, you know, two or three years, thenIf you've moved it by a very small amount, then it's going to take many years of careful observation before you can see how the orbit's change.

This week, Nasa scientists smashed a spacecraft into an asteroid, more than 11m km from Earth. Most rocket scientists would wince at the thought, but the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, was purposefully designed to slam head-on into the asteroid Dimorphos. The aim is to nudge it off its current orbit, in an experiment that will assess the possibility of deflecting a killer space rock – if one was ever headed our way. Ian Sample speaks to Prof Colin Snodgrass about why they chose Dimorphos, what happens to the asteroid now, and whether there are other ways to prevent space-based planetary destruction. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod