By Aahil
October 13, 2022
Nasa's first test of a spaceship crashing into an asteroid altered the asteroid's orbit.
The US space agency launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test into the asteroid's path, deflecting it.
Any asteroid or comet that really threatens Earth in the future should be able to be diverted, according to NASA.
Webb and Hubble caught the spacecraft's collision with the moonlet asteroid on September 26.
It took days to assess how much the hit changed the 525ft asteroid's journey around a larger rock.
In the Didymos double-asteroid system, Dimorphous is an asteroid moonlet that Dart "deliberately smashed into, according to NASA.
It was the first test of the kinetic impact mitigation technology, which modifies an asteroid's orbit
Dart is a test for protecting Earth against asteroids and comets, NASA claimed.
In a $325m test last year, another Dart spacecraft smashed an asteroid 7m miles distant at 14,000mph.
The Dart expedition is the first time humans have modified a celestial body's velocity in space, showcasing technology that might one day safeguard Earth.