Watch: NASA's DART mission smashes into asteroid Dimorphos, Earth's first planetary defence test

NASA's initial test of the DART Mission, a planetary defence system, was a resounding success. NASA's DART probe successfully collided with the asteroid Dimorphos. To change its orbit, the spacecraft collided with an asteroid which is around seven million miles away. NASA launched this historic mission to evaluate humanity's ability to divert a cosmic body away from Earth before it caused catastrophic harm to our home planet.

Also, READ: NASA's Dart mission explained: Here's why the survival of humanity depends on planetary defence technology

As scheduled, at 4:44 IST on September 27, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor crashed onto the space rock Dimorphos. Ten months after taking off from California, the dart has finally collided. Here is a video released by the NASA.

Did you catch the #DARTMission stream live or Didymos it? Impact is over, but the research continues. As scientists delve into data and telescopes release images of the asteroid from their POV, follow @AsteroidWatch and @NASASolarSystem for updates. https://t.co/ZNEYDQVA8Y pic.twitter.com/dn2veS6zbG

— NASA (@NASA) September 27, 2022

Mission systems engineer for DART at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, Elena Adams, stated on Tuesday that the mission had been successful.

However, it wasn't clear if Dart had completely changed the direction of the asteroid or not. It might take close to two months to receive the signal. 

It was NASA's first mission to shift the position of an asteroid. 

It cost over 325 million dollars.

Adams, however, said the planetary defense test was a roaring success. 

The officer said, "Earthlings should sleep better". 

The target asteroid was called Dimorphous. It was 525-foot long. It had been orbiting the sun and was no threat to earth.