NASA’s DART Mission May Trigger First Human-Made Meteor Shower

A recent study suggests that NASA’s Double Asteroids Redirect Test (DART) mission, which intentionally collided with the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in September 2022, could lead to the first human-made meteor shower. The mission, designed to test Earth’s planetary defense capabilities, reshaped Dimorphos and generated over two million pounds of space debris.

Researchers from Cornell University and Italy’s Polytechnic University of Milan estimate that some of this debris could reach Earth and Mars within 10 to 30 years. This debris might create a faint meteor shower visible for the next century, particularly from the southern hemisphere near the Indus constellation. However, the debris poses no threat to Earth, as it consists of tiny particles no larger than smartphones.

While the chance of these fragments reaching Earth is low, scientists remain cautious, noting that the potential meteor shower would be distinct and not overlap with known meteor showers.