NASA and the Italian Space Agency have released the most detailed analysis yet of the September 2022 Double Asteroid Redirection Test, showing that the kinetic impact lofted about 35.3 million pounds (16 million kilograms) of rock and dust from the target asteroid Dimorphos. The study, published 21 August in the Planetary Science Journal, draws on close-range images captured by ASI’s shoebox-sized LICIACube spacecraft, which flew past the impact site seconds after NASA’s probe struck. Researchers found that debris from the loosely bound, "rubble-pile" asteroid generated a recoil effect several times stronger than the spacecraft’s direct hit, dramatically amplifying the deflection. Ground-based observations had already shown that DART shortened Dimorphos’ orbit around its larger companion, Didymos, by 33 minutes. The new mass-ejection calculations refine models of how different asteroid types might respond to kinetic impactors and will inform the design of future planetary-defence missions, including the European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft due to survey the system in 2026.