Asteroid impact

A plume of ejecta following an impact on the smaller asteroid of the Didymos pair. The Asteroid Impact Mission represents ESA's contribution to a larger international effort, the Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission. The NASA-led Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) probe will impact the smaller body, while AIM will perform detailed before-and-after mapping, including pinpointing any shift in the asteroid’s orbit.