About two or three years ago I think a probe whose name I forgot has been crashed into an asteroid at high speed to see what would happen if we tried to collide something with an asteroid on Earth course. The asteroid the probe was crashed into had a moon as well. What were the results of the crash? Did the asteroid slow down? Did it change direction? What happened to its satellite?
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1$\begingroup$ There have been several missions to minor planets in the last decade; Hayabusa2 matches your timeline, and did use a kinetic impactor. Is that the one? $\endgroup$– HDE 226868 ♦Jul 11, 2021 at 14:47
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1$\begingroup$ @HDE226868 No, the DART's mission's descriptions matches exactly what I've meant (it's actually the asteroid's moon, not the primary body, that is to be targeted). I now think I heard about DART because of Hayabusa's successful landing with the sample. Someone in media then probably mentioned that a next goal would be to perform the asteroid impactor mission DART to test what would happen in such attempt. $\endgroup$– JohnJul 11, 2021 at 15:46
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2$\begingroup$ @John DART impacted in 2022. You may be thinking of Osirus-REX or Deep Impact. $\endgroup$– Deko RevinioDec 14, 2022 at 16:42
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2 Answers
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If you're thinking of the NASA DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), it hasn't launched yet. It's supposed to depart Earth between November 2021 and February 2022, and encounter 65803 Didymos and impact its satellite Dimorphos in September or October 2022.
DART is the first part of the AIDA collaboration (Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment). The second is the ESA Hera mission, planned to launch in 2024 and survey the Didymos system in 2026. Better answers to your questions will be available after that.
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$\begingroup$ If it is the mission I mean, I wonder why I (think I) heard something about it in 2019 or 20. $\endgroup$– JohnJul 11, 2021 at 14:23
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$\begingroup$ @John There are news articles about DART as early as 2016. $\endgroup$– Mike GJul 11, 2021 at 18:48
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1$\begingroup$ @John from some questions (and their linked articles) in Space SE we can see that there was a lot of press in 2017 when the mission officially entered preliminary mission design phase, and again in 2019 when SpaceX was selected as the launch provider for this deep space mission. Deep space missions can sometimes generate a decade or more of news cycles before they launch; probably JWST is the most notorious example of that, but for other reasons. $\endgroup$– uhohJul 12, 2021 at 1:24
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$\begingroup$ 2017: What can be learned from NASA's choice of Didymos B for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test 2019: What is the largest body in the solar system we could meaningfully and accurately adjust the orbit of? and Highest velocity impact between a spacecraft and a solar system body? What about for a dedicated impactor (spacecraft component)? and How many SpaceX 2nd stages are in heliocentric orbits? $\endgroup$– uhohJul 12, 2021 at 1:24
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1$\begingroup$ @uhoh 2017 or 18 is too early, I may have been confused because of the reports about SpaceX being selected to conduct the mission in 2019, or because it was mentioned in connection with Hayabusa's sample landing on Earth. But it's definitely the Didymos mission I meant. $\endgroup$– JohnJul 12, 2021 at 5:01
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This is to add an update now that the impact has taken place.
I also think the spacecraft you are talking about is the DART Mission (the Double Asteroid Redirection Test.)
The impact took place on 26 September 2022, at 23:14 UTC.
As to the question itself:
About two or three years ago I think a probe whose name I forgot has been crashed into an asteroid at high speed to see what would happen if we tried to collide something with an asteroid on Earth course.
It is possible that you read the news of the projects progress rather than the actual impact:
In June 2017, NASA approved a move from concept development to the preliminary design phase, and in August 2018 the start of the final design and assembly phase of the mission. On 11 April 2019, NASA announced that a SpaceX Falcon 9 would be used to launch DART.
The asteroid's name is Didymos and it's satellite, Dimorphos was the target of the impact. It's motion didn't change much, however, NASA was happy because the asteroid's orbit did change and was shortened by around 10 minutes.
