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Space

Over 2 million pounds of space debris caused by NASA mission may create first human-made meteor shower

By
Angela Barbuti
Published Aug. 31, 2024, 3:39 p.m. ET

Rocky debris caused by a NASA mission could create the first human-made meteor shower.

In Sept. 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroids Redirect Test (DART) intentionally collided with a tiny moonlet named Dimorphos, which orbited the asteroid Didymos, to test its asteroid deflection technology.

Scientists believe the crash produced over 2 million pounds of rocks and dust — and a new study suggests fragments of Dimorphos could land around Earth and Mars in 10 to 30 years, and the meteor showers could last for up to a century.

The asteroid Dimorphos
In Sept. 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroids Redirect Test (DART) intentionally collided with a tiny moonlet named Dimorphos, pictured here, which orbited the asteroid Didymos, to test its asteroid deflection technology. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL

“Once the first particles reach Mars or Earth, they could continue to arrive intermittently and periodically for at least the next 100 years, which is the duration of our calculations,” Eloy Peña Asensio, a researcher for the Deep-space Astrodynamics Research and Technology group at Italy’s Polytechnic University of Milan, told CNN.

The debris can also potentially generate a light show over Earth.

“This material could produce visible meteors (commonly called shooting stars) as they penetrate the Martian atmosphere,” Asensio added.

The particles will be small, ranging from the size of a grain of sand to that of a smartphone, so will not be a threat to the Earth’s surface, he added.

The last complete image of asteroid moonlet Dimorphos,
The last complete image of asteroid moonlet Dimorphos via REUTERS

For the study, researchers used data from a small satellite that separated from the spacecraft before impact to capture footage of the collision and the debris cloud that formed in its aftermath.

“This crucial data has enabled and continues to enable detailed analysis of the debris produced by the impact,” Peña Asensio continued.

With this data, Asensio and his team of scientists conducted simulations of 3 million particles that the impact made, also taking into account the gravitational power of Didymos, Dimorphos, the sun and other planets.

They deduced that if the debris left Dimorphos at speeds of 1,118 miles per hour, some pieces could get to Mars, while smaller and speedier ones traveling at 3,579 miles per hour could reach Earth in less than 10 years.