Educator Guide: NASA’s DART Mission Is a Success

November 5, 2022

A blue split stream of dust and rock wafting off the asteroid Dimorphos seen after the DART spacecraft mission — This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a split stream of dust and rock streaming off the asteroid Dimorphos nearly 12 days after the DART spacecraft smashed into it.

NASA, ESA, STScI, Hubble

About this guide

Did you hear about the spacecraft that crashed into an asteroid — on purpose?! In this guide, students will learn about NASA’s DART mission and discuss the core physics principles behind it.

This Guide Includes:

Bumping asteroids off course

Students will answer questions about a NASA mission to smash a spacecraft into an asteroid after reading a Science News article and watching a Science News TikTok video about the mission. A version of the article, “NASA’s DART mission is a success,” appears in the November 5, 2022 issue of Science News.

May the force move you

NASA’s DART mission knocked an asteroid off course. Use the mission to teach core physics principles — including force and Newton’s laws of motion. Learning outcomes: Application of forces and Newton’s laws of motion.

What’s the deal with DART?

In this quick activity, students will create a TikTok video about the outcome of a NASA mission to knock an asteroid off course.