Impact (IMAGE)

Southwest Research Institute

Impact

Caption

Prior to the impact of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) into the moonlet Didymos, Southwest Research Institute engineers and scientists performed an experiment to study the cratering process that produces the mass of ejected materials, and measure the subsequent momentum enhancement of the impact. SwRI used its large two-stage light gas gun to launch an aluminum sphere at an object representing Didymos at 5.44 kilometers per second. This image shows the moment of impact.

Credit

Southwest Research Institute

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