Debris from DART could Hit Earth and Mars Within a Decade

This is based on simulations of the impact ejectra created by NASA’s [DART mission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Asteroid_Redirection_Test), using data collected by the Italian Space Agency’s [LICIACube cubesat](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LICIACube) which observed the immediate aftermath of DART’s impact on the asteroid moon Dimorphos.

There is no danger. At most there will be the first ever human-caused meteor shower, with the small (~30 micrometers to at most ~10 cm) fragments burning up in the atmosphere. While the smallest and fastest particles could reach Earth in as little as 7 years, it will likely be decades before particles large enough to produce visible meteors reach Earth.

There is a [preprint of the paper available on arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.02836v1). According to the UT article, the paper has passed peer review and been accepted for publication.

So we successfully tested a way to defend Earth against asteroids by deflecting a non-colliding asteroid into a collision course with Earth instead?

Noice…👍🏻