A new analysis of debris from the asteroid Dimorphos, which was created when NASA's Dart spacecraft collided with it, has revealed that some of the rocks may be on a collision course with Mars. However, scientists are concerned about what will happen to the other "discarded" parts. NASA's Dart spacecraft directly hit asteroid Dimorphos in the first successful attempt at planetary defense against celestial bodies. Possible future collisions with Mars may not seem like a big deal to us at this point because there is no one on Mars to worry about, however, the question is - what might happen along the way, by the time the rocks supposed to intersect the Martian orbit. When the impact occurs, the result will undoubtedly be new craters on Mars.

The Dart mission was conceptually simple as Dimorphos and Didymos represent a pair of asteroids with a known orbital period. By breaking up the craft hitting Dimorphos and measuring changes in its orbit, NASA learned that it is possible and that there are tools to divert the trajectory of an asteroid that may be on a dangerous course toward Earth, as long as there is time. enough. to do so, Science Alert reports. Dimorphos is not a tightly bound piece of rock. This is what is known as a "junk asteroid" - relatively loosely bound. A spacecraft hitting it sent a whole pile of asteroid rock and dust into space.

What exactly will happen to the ejected material - this is what astronomers Marco Fenucci from the European Space Agency and Albino Carbongiani from the National Institute of Astrophysics in Italy are investigating in a paper published in the publications of the Royal Astronomical Society. Their research focused on the distant future and impact simulations, namely – 20 thousand years from now. In particular, they focused on 37 rocks identified by the Hubble Space Telescope, ranging in size from four to seven meters in diameter. According to their calculations - Earth "will be fine". Some of the rocks get close, but they won't get close enough to pose a threat. But four rocks will get close enough to Mars for a direct hit — two in about 6000 years and two in 15 years.

Furthermore, Mars is not protected by an atmospheric cushion like Earth is. Those rocks, according to scientists' calculations, will fall straight in one piece, excavating small craters up to 300 meters in diameter. Mars is otherwise heavily covered in rocks and space craters, so unless something dramatic happens in the next few thousand years, impacts won't "rock anyone's world." Analyzes by a team of experts reveal that some meteorites that have hit Earth in the past likely formed in asteroid collisions in the near-Earth environment. The research was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.