Momentum transfer from the DART mission kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos

The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission kinetically impacted asteroid Dimorphos, the satellite of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, as a planetary defense test. This paper determines the momentum transferred to Dimorphos, finding an instantaneous velocity reduction of 2.70 ± 0.10 mm s⁻¹. The momentum enhancement factor (β) ranges from 2.2 to 4.9, indicating significantly more momentum transfer from ejecta than from DART itself. This validates kinetic impact as a highly effective asteroid deflection method.

Andrew F. Cheng, Harrison F. Agrusa, Brent W. Barbee, Alex J. Meyer, Tony L. Farnham, Sabina D. Raducan, Derek C. Richardson, Elisabetta Dotto, Angelo Zinzi, Vincenzo Della Corte, Thomas S. Statler, Steven Chesley, Shantanu P. Naidu, Masatoshi Hirabayashi, Jian-Yang Li, Siegfried Eggl, Olivier S. Barnouin, Nancy L. Chabot, Sidney Chocron, Gareth S. Collins, R. Terik Daly, Thomas M. Davison, Mallory E. DeCoster, Carolyn M. Ernst, Fabio Ferrari, Dawn M. Graninger, Seth A. Jacobson, Martin Jutz, Kathryn M. Kumamoto, Robert Luther, Joshua R. Lyzhoft, Patrick Michel, Naomi Murdoch, Ryota Nakano, Eric Palmer, Andrew S. Rivkin, Daniel J. Scheeres, Angela M. Stickle, Jessica M. Sunshine, Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez, Jean-Baptiste Vincent, James D. Walker, Kai Wünnemann, Yun Zhang, Marilena Amoroso, Ivano Bertini, John R. Brucato, Andrea Capannolo, Gabriele Cremonese, Massimo Dall'Ora, Prasanna J. D. Deshapriya, Igor Gai, Pedro H. Hasselmann, Simone Leva, Gabriele Impresario, Stavro L. Ivanovski, Michèle Lavagna, Alice Lucchetti, Elena M. Epifani, Dario Modenini, Maurizio Pajola, Pasquale Palumbo, Davide Perna, Simone Pirrotta, Giovanni Poggiali, Alessandro Rossi, Paolo Tortora, Marco Zannoni, Giovanni Zanotti