Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Asteroid lost 1 million kilograms after collision with DART spacecraft

Studies reveal final moments before NASA probe crashed into an asteroid.
  1. Alexandra Witze
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Last September, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft smashed into an asteroid, deliberately altering the rock’s trajectory through space in a first test of planetary defence. Now scientists have deconstructed the collision and its aftermath — and learnt just how successful humanity’s punch at the cosmos really was.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 615, 195 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00601-4

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 02 March 2023: This story has been updated to clarify that the asteroid changed colour from red to blue after impact. Frank Marchis’s affiliation has also been amended.

References

  1. Thomas, C. A. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05805-2 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Daly, R. T. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05810-5 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Li, J.-Y. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05811-4 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cheng, A. F. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05878-z (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Graykowski, A. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05852-9 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links