Most discoveries are supported by ground-based telescopic surveys, The space agency initiated observations program in 1998. NASA has a multi prong approach to monitor Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs). "I would emphasise that our calculations and small-scale lab experiments show that it might work well,". However, Chattopadhyay said whether the mission has been able to deflect the orbit of the asteroid will be known only once all the data has been collected. One of the primary goals is to measure the deflection of the asteroid's orbit," he added. "The expected output of the impact is to shorten Dimorphos' orbit by about 1 per cent, or roughly 10 minutes. "Post impact, the team will observe Dimorphos using ground-based telescopes to confirm that DART's impact altered the asteroid's orbit around Didymos," Karthick said. Researchers expect the impact to shorten Dimorphos' orbit by about 1 per cent, or roughly 10 minutes precisely measuring how much the asteroid was deflected is one of the primary purposes of the full-scale test. The team will now observe Dimorphos using ground-based telescopes to confirm that DART's impact altered the asteroid's orbit around Didymos. However, for sufficiently large asteroids, that is not the case as the outer core will burn but there will be sufficient mass left to create damage. Small asteroids are always hitting the Earth all the time but they burn due to the heat generated in the atmosphere. "At least for the next century, there is no such threat from the known asteroids that can cause mass casualties," said Karthick, adding that this risk assessment is, however, based on the asteroids known to science so far. That's why these programs are important," Chattopadhyay told PTI. There is always a possibility that a big one might be headed towards us and the question becomes, what would be our approach and how we could mitigate that. "However, the probability of that is non-zero and we must always be vigilant. However, scientists noted that most of the asteroids, which are somewhat significant in size and can cause damage on impact with the Earth, have a minuscule chance of hitting the planet. The idea is, if we can encounter these asteroids whose trajectory is towards us and we do that at a sufficient distance from the Earth, then a minor deflection will be enough to change the path of the asteroid," he added.
"DART is an experimental mission to try out a concept of deflecting an asteroid. Goutam Chattopadhyay, a senior scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the US also noted that the mission will help to prepare for a future-threatening asteroid. The DART mission's one-way trip, confirmed NASA, can successfully navigate a spacecraft to intentionally collide with an asteroid to deflect it, a technique known as kinetic impact.
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