NASA’s DART mission may have created ’first human-made’ meteor shower — What are Dimorphids? Explained

It was on September 26, 2022, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) successfully crashed a vending machine-sized spacecraft into asteroid moonlet Dimorphos. The mission was called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) and it may have now resulted in the first 'human-made' meteor shower.

Dimorphids: First human-made meteor shower

The impact of NASA's DART mission, which successfully altered a smaller asteroid’s orbit in space by a whopping 33 minutes, may lead to an extraordinary phenomenon — the first human-made meteor shower, the Dimorphids.

A new study found that rocky debris blasted away from a football stadium-sized asteroid, Dimorphos, during the DART mission could create the first human-made meteor shower known as the Dimorphids.

According to the CNN, scientists estimated the intentional collision in DART mission generated more than 2 million pounds (nearly 1 million kilograms) of rocks and dust — enough to fill about six or seven rail cars.

Now, the new research suggests fragments of Dimorphos will arrive in the vicinity of Earth and Mars within one to three decades, with the possibility that some debris could reach Mars within seven years.

Small debris could also reach Earth’s atmosphere within the next 10 years. The Planetary Science Journal has accepted the study for publication.

"We identified DART ejecta orbits compatible with the delivery of meteor-producing particles to Mars and Earth," the study read. "Our results indicate the possibility of ejecta reaching the Mars Hill sphere in 13 years for launch velocities around 450 m/s, which is within the observed range. Some ejecta particles launched at 770 m/s could reach Mars's vicinity in 7 years," it added.

"Faster ejecta resulted in a higher flux delivery towards Mars and particles impacting the Earth Hill sphere above 1.5 km/s," it added.

Meanwhile, Eloy Peña Asensio, a researcher for the Deep-space Astrodynamics Research and Technology group at Italy’s Polytechnic University of Milan, told CNN, "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.”

What is NASA's DART mission?

The DART mission was NASA's first attempt to move an asteroid in space. As part of the mission, a spacecraft was intentionally collided with asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in space. The mission was launched in 2021 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Launch Complex 4 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

According to the US space agency, DART was the first-ever mission dedicated to investigating and demonstrating one method of deflecting asteroids by changing an asteroid’s motion in space through kinetic impact.

Was the DART mission successful? A look at its impact

The DART mission was successful. The deliberate smashing of a spacecraft into an asteroid made an impact in more ways than one ways.

An official had then in October 2022, “NASA confirms that the DART successfully changed the targeted asteroid's trajectory...this is a watershed moment for planetary defence.”

It was "for the first time ever that humans [purposely] changed the motion of a celestial object," the agency said. It was the first full-scale demonstration of asteroid deflection technology.

With the success of the DART mission, NASA found that the mission's kinetic impactor technique could effectively change an asteroid's trajectory.

Meanwhile, a JPL-led study in 2024 showed that the shape of asteroid Dimorphos has changed and its orbit has shrunk. A new study published in the Planetary Science Journal shows the impact changed not only the motion of the asteroid, but also its shape.

“Dimorphos’ orbit is no longer circular: Its orbital period” – the time it takes to complete a single orbit – “is now 33 minutes and 15 seconds shorter," said Shantanu Naidu, a navigation engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who led the study.

“And the entire shape of the asteroid has changed, from a relatively symmetrical object to a ‘triaxial ellipsoid’ – something more like an oblong watermelon,” Naidu said.

Why was Dimorphos chosen as target?

The DART mission impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos. Asteroid Didymos and its small moonlet Dimorphos make up what’s called a binary asteroid system – meaning the small moon (Dimorphos) orbits the larger body (Didymos). They were chosen for DART mission as they pass relatively close to Earth.

Moreover, Dimorphos was a perfect choice for the mission as its size is comparable to asteroids that could threaten our planet, CNN reported. However, Neither Dimorphos nor the large parent, Didymos, pose a danger to Earth.

How will asteroid deflection help?

NASA said DART’s impact with the asteroid Dimorphos "demonstrates a viable mitigation technique for protecting the planet from an Earth-bound asteroid or comet, if one were discovered".

This means the mission’s one-way trip confirmed that NASA can successfully navigate a spacecraft, to intentionally collide with an asteroid to deflect it. This could save Earth from a possible asteroid collision in future. This technology could be used to deflect hazardous asteroids on a collision course with Earth.