NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission was a test of asteroid deflection and demonstration of kinetic impactor technology—impacting an asteroid to adjust its speed and path.
In September 2022, a 1,300 pound impactor spacecraft struck the asteroid Dimorphos at approximately 14,000 mph. The after effects observed were completely unexpected, and remain unexplained.
Nearly 1,000 tons of rocky material ejected into space and the impact altered Dimorphos orbit decreasing it by 33 minutes. However, a month later its orbit increased to 34 minutes—one minute longer than measured prior to impact.
NASA investigators admit it cannot be explained by any accepted hypothesis what kind of force continued to slow the asteroid’s orbit. Although, most likely Dimorphos encountered a dramatic “voltage spike” when struck by the DART spacecraft. An electric force.
Independent researcher Stuart Talbott analyzes the results of the DART mission as further evidence why objects in our solar system—comets, asteroids, meteoroids, moons, planets, the Sun—should not be viewed as electrically neutral.
