NASA’s Asteroid-Bashing DART Mission Was Wildly Successful

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March 02, 2023

If you're in need of proof that, despite all its problems, science has the potential to literally save the world, this week's top story is for you. It details the results from a fresh batch of papers analyzing data from NASA's asteroid-nudging DART mission, which last year slammed into and shifted the orbit of a space rock known as Dimorphos. That such a relatively small and inexpensive probe could so effectively alter an asteroid's celestial motion suggests that if—when—future hazardous objects are found on potential collision courses with Earth, similar techniques could be used to ensure they don't strike our planet. Elsewhere this week, we have stories on the latest anomalous galaxies found in the early universe, the need for nuclear arms control, a poetic paean to Europa, and more. Enjoy!

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics

Planetary Science NASA's Asteroid-Bashing DART Mission Was Wildly Successful New studies have revealed the spacecraft's final moments and the remarkable aftermath of its impact By Alexandra Witze,Nature magazine

Astronomy JWST Discovers Enormous Distant Galaxies That Should Not Exist JWST has discovered giant mature galaxies that seem to have filled the universe shortly after the big bang, and astronomers are puzzled By Tereza Pultarova,SPACE.com

Politics We Must Prevent a New Nuclear Arms Race Smart U.S. leadership and international pressure on Russia can prevent an unconstrained global nuclear arms race By Daryl G. Kimball,Frank von Hippel

Aerospace Sorry, UFO Hunters--You Might Just Be Looking at a Spy Balloon From space aliens to foreign surveillance, we spoke to experts to find out what's really going on with the balloon brouhaha. By Sophie Bushwick,Tulika Bose | 07:34

Aerospace Did the Pentagon Shoot Down a Harmless Ham Radio Balloon? Surging numbers of small research balloons increase the odds of airborne mistaken identity—and harsher regulations By Leonard David

Quantum Computing Google's Quantum Computer Hits Key Milestone by Reducing Errors Researchers demonstrate for the first time that using more qubits can lower the error rate of quantum calculations By Davide Castelvecchi,Nature

Quantum Physics Is Our Universe a Hologram? Physicists Debate Famous Idea on Its 25th Anniversary The Ads/CFT duality conjecture suggests our universe is a hologram, enabling significant discoveries in the 25 years since it was first proposed By Anil Ananthaswamy

Astronomy Poem: 'Jupiter's Moon Europa' Science in meter and verse By Kate Gleason

Climate Change Solar Geoengineering Should Be Regulated, U.N. Report Says A panel of independent experts urged international leaders to set rules for the stratosphere and solar geoengineering By Corbin Hiar,John Fialka,E&E News

FROM THE ARCHIVE Astronomers Grapple with JWST's Discovery of Early Galaxies Researchers are convinced the James Webb Space Telescope has glimpsed an unexpected population of galaxies in the early universe. Now they're trying to decide what this means for our understanding of the cosmos By Jonathan O'Callaghan | December 2022

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