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NASA’s DART spacecraft changed the Didymos–Dimorphos system’s orbit around the Sun by a tiny but measurable amount: NASA’s 2026 analysis found that its roughly 770-day solar-orbit period became 0.15 seconds shorter. DART also shortened Dimorphos’s orbit around Didymos by 33 minutes and 15 seconds. Those are two different orbital changes—and together they show that a spacecraft impact can alter an asteroid’s motion.
What changed in the system’s orbit around the Sun?
Didymos and its moonlet Dimorphos travel around the Sun together, completing one solar orbit in about 770 days. NASA’s 2026 analysis found that DART’s impact shortened that period by 0.15 seconds. The measured change in the system’s orbital speed was about 11.7 microns per second, or 1.7 inches per hour.
That is a very small shift, not a dramatic turn in an asteroid’s course. But a slight velocity change can accumulate over time: the object follows a subtly different path at each point in its orbit, and the gap between its old and new positions can grow. NASA lead scientist Thomas Statler described the principle this way: “This is a tiny change to the orbit, but given enough time, even a tiny change can grow to a significant deflection.”
How was that different from the change in Dimorphos’s orbit around Didymos?
The solar-orbit result is distinct from DART’s better-known effect on Dimorphos’s local orbit around its larger companion, Didymos. Before impact, Dimorphos took about 11 hours and 55 minutes to complete one circuit of Didymos. NASA/JPL reported in 2024 that the period ultimately fell by 33 minutes and 15 seconds, to 11 hours, 22 minutes and 3 seconds.
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| Measured orbit | Change reported | What the measurement describes |
|---|---|---|
| Didymos–Dimorphos around the Sun | Period shortened by 0.15 seconds; speed changed by about 11.7 microns per second (1.7 inches per hour), in NASA’s 2026 analysis | The binary system’s solar orbit, which lasts about 770 days |
| Dimorphos around Didymos | Period shortened by 33 minutes and 15 seconds, to 11 hours, 22 minutes and 3 seconds, in NASA/JPL’s 2024 report | The moonlet’s orbit around its companion asteroid |
The local-orbit change did not happen all at once. The impact immediately shortened Dimorphos’s period by 32 minutes and 42 seconds; additional rock escaping from the moonlet over the following weeks contributed to the final 33-minute-and-15-second reduction. NASA/JPL also reported that the moonlet’s mean distance from Didymos decreased by about 120 feet (37 meters). Dimorphos is about 560 feet (170 meters) wide, according to the same 2024 reporting.
Why did the impact move Dimorphos more than the spacecraft alone could?
DART was a kinetic impactor: it struck Dimorphos to transfer momentum. The collision also blasted rocky material—ejecta—off the moonlet. As that material flew away, its recoil gave Dimorphos an additional push in the opposite direction. This amplified the effect beyond the momentum delivered by the spacecraft itself.
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NASA’s solar-orbit analysis reported a momentum-enhancement factor of about two. Earlier DART results reported a factor ranging from 2.2 to 4.9, depending on the assumed mass of Dimorphos. These figures describe how much the escaping material enhanced momentum transfer; they are not a universal multiplier for impacts on other asteroids.
What happened to Dimorphos physically?
Dimorphos was a loosely packed rubble pile rather than a single solid block. After impact, its orbit around Didymos was slightly more elongated than before, and its shape changed from an oblate spheroid to a triaxial ellipsoid. NASA/JPL navigation engineer Shantanu Naidu likened the altered form to an oblong watermelon.
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The change in both motion and shape matters when interpreting the result: DART tested a particular small, rubble-pile moonlet, and the escaping material was part of the deflection. A more solid asteroid could shed less material and respond differently.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does DART prove that an asteroid could be deflected away from Earth?
DART demonstrated that a spacecraft can navigate autonomously to a small asteroid and strike it, measurably changing its motion. That is a key planetary-defense capability, but the mission was a controlled technology demonstration, not an emergency response. Neither Didymos nor Dimorphos posed an impact threat to Earth, and NASA says DART could not put them on an Earth-impact trajectory.
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The test does not establish how well a kinetic impact would work on every potentially hazardous asteroid. The result depends in part on the target’s composition and structure, including how much material an impact can eject. NASA says an effective defense would require substantial warning time—at least several years, and preferably decades—so that a small course change has time to build into a larger separation from Earth.
In practical terms, DART showed that a kinetic impact can alter an asteroid’s motion and that the resulting change can be measured. It did not demonstrate that a last-minute impact would stop an asteroid, or that the same impact would produce the same response on a different object.
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