Overview

• A Planetary Science Journal study using LICIACube images estimates 35.3 million pounds (16 million kilograms) of debris was expelled by the impact, refining earlier figures.
• The flying rubble provided Dimorphos with a shove several times stronger than DART’s direct hit, clarifying why the deflection was so effective.
• Ejected material was less than 0.5% of Dimorphos’ mass yet roughly 30,000 times the spacecraft’s mass.
• Image brightness and modeling indicate the plume was dominated by millimeter‑scale particles, with nearly 45% of the mass hidden in an opaque inner region.
• LICIACube captured the only close-up views, imaging about once every three seconds with a closest pass of 53 miles, as telescopes measured a 33‑minute shortening of the moonlet’s orbit.