Nasa confirms asteroid's path successfully altered by its Dart mission

Impact of spacecraft changed moonlet's orbit by more than what scientists had predicted

The spacecraft that the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) deliberately crashed into an asteroid in September succeeded in nudging the rocky moonlet out of its natural orbit, the first time humanity has altered the motion of a celestial body, Nasa officials said.

The US$330 million (S$475 million) proof-of-concept mission, which was seven years in development, also marked the world's first test of a planetary defence system designed to prevent a potential doomsday meteorite collision with Earth.

Findings of telescope observations unveiled at a Nasa news briefing in Washington confirmed that the suicide test flight of the Dart spacecraft on Sept 26 achieved its primary objective: changing the direction of an asteroid through sheer kinetic force.

Dart is short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test.