NASA's asteroid-smashing DART spacecraft hit so hard, it changed its target space rocks' orbit around the sun

"Over time, such a small change in an asteroid's motion can make the difference between a hazardous object hitting or missing our planet.

In 2022, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission deliberately slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos, which orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos. Now, scientists have confirmed that not only did DART alter Dimorphos' orbit around its binary companion, but it also altered the whole binary system's orbit around the sun.

"The change in the binary system's orbital speed was about 11.7 microns per second, or 1.7 inches per hour," said Rahil Makadia of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in a statement. "Over time, such a small change in an asteroid's motion can make the difference between a hazardous object hitting or missing our planet.