Small pieces of space debris from an asteroid might head toward Earth and Mars after a NASA mission intentionally hit the asteroid with a probe a couple of years back, a recent study suggests.
Though these fragments could reach Earth in about ten years, they aren’t a threat to life. However, they might have caused the first meteor showers caused by human actions, according to Live Science.
NASA conducted a mission on September 26, 2022, where its DART spacecraft intentionally crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos at a speed of about 24,000 kmph. This event took place over 11 million KM from Earth. It marked the first trial of humans’ ability to alter the path of asteroids that might endanger our planet.
The mission achieved great results. DART changed Dimorphos’ path significantly, reducing the time it takes to orbit its companion, Didymos, by about half an hour. It also reshaped the asteroid entirely. This showed that using the kinetic impactor method could be a useful way to defend Earth from threatening asteroids.
After observing Dimorphos following the impact, researchers noted that the collision had released significant debris into space.
This debris included many sizable boulders that scientists think might eventually collide with Mars. However, they do not anticipate any of these larger pieces reaching Earth, the publication added.
In a recent study, scientists focused on the smaller pieces of the asteroid Dimorphos. They employed a NASA supercomputer to evaluate data from the European Space Agency’s LICIACube spacecraft, observing the DART mission’s collision with Dimorphos.
Smaller fragments
Their simulations showed that many of these smaller fragments are expected to travel towards Mars or the Earth-moon system.
“However, these faster particles are expected to be too small to produce visible meteors, based on early observations,” said Peña-Asensio. “Nevertheless, ongoing meteor observation campaigns will be critical in determining whether DART has created a new (and human-created) meteor shower,” astrophysicist Eloy Peña-Asensio told Universe Today.