Key facts
- NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission successfully altered the trajectory of the asteroid Dimorphos.
- The Hayabusa2 mission, led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), previously collected samples from the asteroid Ryugu.
- The success of DART raises questions about the capabilities of other space missions, such as Hayabusa2, in asteroid deflection.
NASA's recent successful deflection of an asteroid using its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft has sparked discussions about the capabilities of other space missions in similar endeavors. The DART mission intentionally impacted the asteroid Dimorphos, altering its orbit around a larger asteroid, Didymos. This achievement has led to comparisons with Japan's Hayabusa2 mission, which successfully collected samples from the asteroid Ryugu and returned them to Earth. The question now is whether Hayabusa2, or similar missions, could replicate NASA's success in asteroid deflection.