An experiment conducted by NASA in 2022 to study the deflection of asteroid Dimorph by an impact from the DART spacecraft led to unexpected consequences. Fragments that broke off from Dimorph as a result of a collision with the probe will fall onto the surface of Mars, although this will not happen until thousands of years later, scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) have found. The research results were published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
Analyzing 37 pieces of debris that separated from the asteroid after the DART collision, scientists found that the sizes of these stones ranged from four to seven meters.
According to the simulation, four Dimorph fragments are highly likely to collide with Mars over the next 20 thousand years. The first pair of fragments is planned to reach the planet in about 6 thousand years, and the remaining two – in 15 thousand years.
Due to the lack of a dense atmosphere on Mars, meteorites will be able to reach its surface without significant interference, forming craters with a diameter of up to 300 meters. This event probably will not have a significant impact on the Red Planet, which already has a significant number of traces of the impact of space objects.
However, the state of Mars over the next 6-15 thousand years remains a matter of uncertainty.
