Asteroid Collision Shocked NASA Scientists, They Can't Explain Why This Happened | DART 

They really should've called it the First Asteroid Redirection Test.

It's insane, that just over a 100 years ago, we were barely able to fly. Now we have autonomous, unmanned space kamikazes. Incredible!

I just saw this now and what a mind cleanser from the awful things happening now. To see Dart smash in real-time and not by artist renderings is beyond words. We as mankind need more exciting projects like this. They give a sense of hope. ☺

There are no words yet invented that would give enough praise and glory to the people who accomplished this amazing event. I hope we never become so jaded that we think this was just a normal mission. This is truly incredible. Just think of the distances covered, the speed achieved, matching the trajectories, the perfect timing and the genius engineering of the thousands of people involved working in harmony to make this a complete success. If only we could do on Earth what we do in space.

I love the term "Rapid scheduled disassembly"

Anyone else think its super cool we have a genuine planetary defense initiative? Sci fi as hell!

This was the event that really cemented how much the asteroids need to prepare to launch spacecraft redirect missions.

This mission is one of the most important in human history and is simply amazing. Congratulations to everyone involved and thanks for sharing this content 🙏🏽

I remember watching the live feed from the spacecraft as it impacted, was a bit surreal to be rooting for the destruction of a spacecraft like that, but definitely an exciting moment!

Great distinction with "non-avian" dinosaurs. I've had to deal with a few of the "if dinosaurs are extinct, how did they turn into birds" people.

This is one of the most impressive and worthy things the species has ever accomplished, and if we ever have to do this for real - it will be the absolute pinnacle of anything we will ever do. We can protect all life on Earth.

10:44 It's because Dimorphos is orbiting a larger object. Some of the ejected material is further away and slows down, yet still being dragged along. This creates curved patterns of debris.

Awesome content again from Alex and the Astrum team. Thank you!

I just want to thank you for rejuvenating my love for physics and astronomy that I've lost in recent years. Your channel is fantastic, and you obviously take so much time to put each video together with fantastic visuals. This is top-tier stuff, and you should seek a career in documentary filmmaking

Well done all who participated! Finally some good news. 🌟❤️

Good explanation! There's more hope than I thought...

The DART mission was and is SO very exciting, not least because I recall reading about how sci-fi authors way back in the 60s and 70s had discussed exactly this kind of defense, as well as a type of defense using lasers! (very, very big lasers, based on the Moon, but still a really neat idea) Getting to see LITERAL science fiction become science reality has been such a rush!!!

Great video. I was very fortunate to work on this mission. Great project with a great team.

I love how in these stories, scientists are always “shocked” and can’t explain stuff.

“Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn't stop to think if they should.” - Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm.

The best space content channel on YT, no doubt about it.

The streams possibly changed direction due to interference of shifting debris. For example: a jet coming from the bottom of the crater has a rock come loose from the edge and cross the stream. As the stream stretches out you can see the exact spot the rock crossed. Every shift in the stream was some physical occurrence such as that.

Thanks for providing such a multi-faceted view of the event. Very nicely done.

Absolutely a worthwhile endeavor with existential ramifications! Also a very good presentation.

Wow! You really nailed it Alex! The way you present the facts are second to none... Thanks.

I'm still sad the cubesat didn't perform as hoped. It would have been amazing to see this from a "3rd person" perspective. Oh well, better luck next time! I hope we see more and more missions documented this way - rendezvous, docking, spacewalks, reentry... All would be amazing to see filmed from the outside!

This video made me slightly emotional for some reason. I don't understand why, though I think it is realizing how far we have come in the development of creative ideas to protect humanity. I am a professional designer, so I get really charged up when things are made in the support of creating a better future for everyone. Something so pure and helpful. The creative minds on these NASA fellows is amazing.

Certainly a great achievement. What a great time for space exploration. Thank you for your very good videos.

can't wait for the follow up mission BONK

This mission reminds me so much of the Ranger 7 lunar impactor mission form late July of 1964. I remember that day as a nine year old watching the incoming photos on tv relayed to the networks from NASA starting at 15 minutes before impact as each photo showed a closer picture of the lunar surface until just seconds before impact the final partial photo came through because the transmission of the full photo was cut short by the impact itself. Each photo was taken on rapid developing film and then scanned by an onboard tv camera and transmitted to earth so there was a delay between each photo because of this process. Both missions are truly remarkable for their accomplishments.

It’s amazing that they can hit an object that small from so far away, I can’t even hit the recycling bin with an empty soda can. Great work ladies and gentlemen, congratulations. 💫💫💫💫

The precision is just amazing. They hit a tiny satellite of a tiny asteroid in just the right way to decrease its orbital size so as to present no possible danger to earth and for the effects to be easily detectable with simple brightness plots. It was the perfect test mission for asteroid defense technology. Well done NASA!

man that title had me rolling KEKW

Terrific video. You really compiled and presented us with everything currently known about this mission, great job... and Nasa, SpaceX amd ESA, too!

8:20 One of the true oddities of orbital navigating is if you want to speed up~ slow down, if you want to slow down~ speed up. By slowing you come in closer orbit to the object you're orbiting thereby speeding up relative to that object. If you speed up you'll move into a higher orbit~ slowing down relative to the object being orbited. About half of what the Mercury Project was about was learning how to navigate and learn how to get two objects to meet and join up; getting Apollo to the moon would have been impossible.

The fact that the collision generated some form of reactive jet with much enhanced momentum transfer is a great discovery which totally changes the way asteroid deflection will be carried out in future. Well made documentary.

Fantastic! It's amazing to think that the distances and speeds out there are so large and yet just a relatively tiny modification can cause so many (in this case fruitful) consequences.

The implications this has for earth cant be understated. It seems like a small thing but its really an incredible task they've accomplished. They moved a celestial body. A small one, but its a start.

This is amazing. Bravo to the teams who who put this mission together. It really is fantastic.

Terrific article. I've only just recently discovered Astrum but what a brilliant channel. Thank you Astrum.

I find it so interesting that their calculations for the effect of the impact was so different from the results. It almost seems like an assignment you could get in a college class, but there are still so many unknowns about the real physics of asteroids.

So cool that Hubble and Webb were able to lend their "eyes" to this event. Amazing!

Shout out to the camera man who risked his life to give us these wonderful shots 🙏🏿

Well that was a refreshing scientific review of a NASA experiment without having to embellish the science for a wider RU-vid audience. This is how all such video science reviews should be conducted: Factual, well explained, and without any click bait nonsense. Well done.

The real hurdle right now for planetary defense capability is detection, monitoring, and modeling. We have probably spotted (edit: and modeled future paths of) all of the extinction level threats but only some of the smaller rocks.

This is so awesome ive been wondering how the dart went thank you for the in depth review and for releasing it on Thanksgiving

It’s the punch that you don’t see coming, that knocks you out…

I reason the response with Dimorphos was greater than expected was due to the model they used of the little target. Thinking it more spongy than rocky. More rock more reaction and maybe conservation of momentum. They hit it face on - so it slowed down, not from behind that would speed it up.

Thank you, fantastic work, as always!

Astrum, you help to keep my love for existence alive, & I thank you for that.

5:56 True, especially with space missions where a meter of error now can mean kilometers after

It’s amazing how they can calculate exactly. For the probe to hit the asteroid, which was millions of miles away. Credit to them 👍👍

This was a FANTASTIC video, & just ONE beautiful example of why we subscribe to this channel!!!!!!

This mission gave me hope that humans are not all dumb enough to aim weapons at each other but at the stars where all weapons should be aimed at. We have the power to defend this planet against threats like meteors and we abuse it to kill each other. If aliens are watching us they are going to wait until we are done with homicide/genocide only then will they contact us and welcome us into the galactic federation. I hope i get to witness that world changing event.

Fantastic! Thank you for explanation.

Thanks for covering this. I nearly forgot about it xD. But really. Wow, those images are stunning. Always nice to see science progress.

With long term observation we may know what effect the impact had on Didymos' own trajectory, because though small, Dimorphos has a slight gravitational tug on the larger body it orbits.

The debris plumes are non-uniform, I would imagine, in part because the impact kicked up some debris which did not achieve escape velocity, and when it re-impacted it set off other plumes of fine debris. It likely also caused some outgassing, which would have produced secondary plumes that rotate with the asteroid and generated forces that would affect the plumes from the initial impact. All of the debris would have been minorly affected by the larger asteroid's weak gravity. Finally, minor local variances in the solar wind could have "blown" some of the fine debris around. All of these actions and interactions resulting in the complex waves and spirals of the debris trail we saw. That's my guess, I can't wait to see what the scientists who study this stuff for a living conclude.

3:29 That caught me off guard. "About the size of a refrigerator"

Asteroids are not a Threat, but a Solution!

This has to rate as one of the best small missions so far once the 2024 craft gets to the impact site.

I definitely agree with you on that last partial image being the most amazing one. It's weird, much in the same way that a room of nasa etc people cheering at a loss of signal is weird, but well. That happened too didn't it? Just goes to show how extraordinary this mission was

Excellent video! The only comment I would make is I wish documentary makers would include a tiny label in the bottom corner of the screen, for every single image and video, labeling it as "unedited photo," "processed/enhanced photo," "illustration," "real video or real photo sequence," "animation". They should do this for every single image, even the ones they feel are obvious.

The spiraling plume from the impact struck me as the only unanswered question. Did the impact create a momentary “atmosphere” of finely pulverised dust which, when ejected, bounced off each other causing a non linear ejection? I remember on the Cody’s Lab channel he said sound can travel in space if there is a plume of gas in which it can propagate.

I'd say yes that we would definitely need to use this option at some point in the future. However there have been times that we didn't notice these objects until it was too late to do anything. Unless we could already have them in orbit ready to go, I'm not sure they will always be the correct choice.

scientists be like "smashing into an asteroid at many km/s will probably alter its orbit, let's smash this spacecraft into some asteroid and see it"

Great presentation!! I struggled to remain interested in the middle, but well worth it. Thank you

Earth escape velocity is 11.2 km/s. Much faster than the 6.6 km/s you said “…we can’t quite reach those kinds of speeds here on earth…” Love your channel!

Just incredible!! WOW!! Thank you Alex, I echo the many positive comments about your content. I love the way you present this awesome information and continue to learn so much. Sincerely appreciated.

Awesome video as usual. Amazing use of space tech. In this case, definitely worthwhile.

It really is amazing!! The math involved!! Bravo!!

It looks magnificent especially with the multiple images of the before and after impact and the different images from different sources. We will definitely need to use something like this in the future, of course given the current circumstances that are going on with things on our planet, hopefully there's a future for civilisation firstly. Hoping that we don't destroy ourselves at such a important time in history.

Awesome content! Thanks you!!!

So much click bait recently on this channel.

I stand corrected. Here I was thinking WEBB was launched after this impact test.

All space studies are worthwhile. The only way to move forward.

I liked the visual's with this story they were great.

A few questions: Is the smaller body likely to impact the larger one any time soon, because of its reduced distance to the larger body? Did changing the track of the smaller body also change the course of the larger body, due to the shift in mass? How much mass did the smaller body lose? I understand that the impact cause the expulsion of mass at high speed, adding a "Rocket thrust" to the action, moving the smaller body more than expected, could that be expected on more solid bodies? How much, if any, of the ejected mass resettled on the larger body? Could it be that the spiraling ejected material may be parts of the space craft, such as the solar panels?

Brilliant 👏 we have come a long way in exploring the unknown when I was a child in the 50s, it is becoming clearer every decade now. It proves that Earth is the only living object anywhere near us.

Amazing video! Thanks for the upload. Exciting things are happening in space.

So...this is good. After this intiial successful test, I assume there will be others, but how many more will be needed I am not enough of a scientist (um, not at all) to know just how many. Given the timeline regarding Hera, I'm wondering if any useful version of this technique will be out of the testing stage before my actuarially projected lifespan is over; I'm 55. Ok, then there's the use of a satellite to use it's tiny bit of gravity to slowly over time change the orbit of the asteroid into a safer one. Are there any test missions slated for this Idea? Beats me, but even if fully functional this takes a lot of lead time to implement. Really, the same is true of other ideas as well; mass drivers, the painting of part of the asteroid black to use sunlight to effect it's orbit...all are slow to carry off and may require years to discover if any of these are, in fact viable. Bummer. But, we still have time. Hopefully. Thanks S.W.

Any mission that can lead to saving us from extinction is important.

You asked if it was worth it? Well, let's see. The Mercury program gave us Tang. The Apollo program gave us rocks. Saving Earth from destruction? Uh, yeah, I'd say it was worth it.

This type of research and effort is probably the most important work in regards to space. Considering that asteroid impacts are even more devastating than nuclear bombs. Can you imagine the force that would be released and the destruction it would cause if Ida and Dactyl hit Earth?! Speaking of Ida & Dactyl they are my favorite binary asteroids ever they are the first asteroids I've ever read about when I first started getting into astronomy in 2003. So they're very nostalgic for me.

Hell yes, I think this was worthwhile! How is this not celebrated, broadcasted everywhere! Those pictures were astonishing, and to actually see what an astroid, meteor, or whatever looks like! This is just so extremely fascinating to me! ✝️🇺🇸✝️

I think this test was absolutely worth the money. To do anything less would be irresponsible. Now scientists can evaluate the data and do further testing, if needed, or develop an arsenal of “deflector” designs for future use - when needed.

"How was work today?" "We built a radio, launched a rocket, watched some photos, crashed a drone, played astronomical billiard and rolled a rock and my boss can't wait to do it again"

Роскосмос: "Hold my vodka..." _*Czar bomba's Didymus_

I'm amazed at how compact an agglomeration of dust and rocks can result in such low gravity

Another good episode from Astrum ✌️

The technology was amazing and your videos are incredible. Keep up the good work.

Since there was something received, a composite can be produced because it's the very same shot but closer, plus the last picture shows us a simple size/pixel for the complete picture!

It just amazes me that we have the ability to hit a 160m-wide object millions of miles away.

This was more than worthwhile!! This is the culmination of decades of both fiction and non-fictional thesis' and PROVES that the human mind is capable of navigating the complexities of the universe. It's a baby step but it is proof of concept and should enable the furthering of the studies. Hopefully we can see what happens to a much larger object, in our lifetimes. Very promising results!! Way to go star boys and girls!!

Release the Borg Cubes!

Interstellar plasma interacting with the dust and debries. What did you expect? Water ice?

I have a small kernel in my mind that keeps saying "The nudged that thing a tiny bit, then it hit another that hit another and eventually nudges the asteroid that takes us out into a collision orbit."

With the number of asteroids that have been found and are being tracked and looking like a heavy snow storm, it seems more likely than not that this technology is necessary and will be needed fairly soon. Great video.

1:57 Asteroid ☄️: yeah nice try but I’m coming to get you Earth ☄️ 🌎 it’s time for punishment ☠️ day of judgement

Playing pool with the solar system sound like fun, as long as nobody mis-cues.