"NASA's DART Mission Transforms Asteroid into Watermelon Shape"

NASA's DART spacecraft intentionally crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos, altering its shape and orbit as part of a planetary defense test. The impact reshaped Dimorphos from a symmetrical object to an elongated "triaxial ellipsoid," indicating it's a loose rubble pile. The mission exceeded expectations, providing new insights into asteroid behavior and potential deflection techniques. The European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft will further study the asteroids in 2024.