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NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was the first to demonstrate asteroid deflection, and the mission's Level 1 requirements guided its planetary defense investigations. Here, we summarize DART's achievement of those requirements. On 2022 September 26, the DART spacecraft impacted Dimorphos, the secondary member of the Didymos near-Earth asteroid binary system, demonstrating an autonomously navigated kinetic impact into an asteroid with limited prior knowledge for planetary defense. Months of subsequent Earth-based observations showed that the binary orbital period was changed by –33.24 minutes, with two independent analysis methods each reporting a 1σ uncertainty of 1.4 s. Dynamical models determinedmore » that the momentum enhancement factor, β, resulting from DART's kinetic impact test is between 2.4 and 4.9, depending on the mass of Dimorphos, which remains the largest source of uncertainty. Over five dozen telescopes across the globe and in space, along with the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids, have contributed to DART's investigations. These combined investigations have addressed topics related to the ejecta, dynamics, impact event, and properties of both asteroids in the binary system. A year following DART's successful impact into Dimorphos, the mission has achieved its planetary defense requirements, although work to further understand DART's kinetic impact test and the Didymos system will continue. In particular, ESA's Hera mission is planned to perform extensive measurements in 2027 during its rendezvous with the Didymos–Dimorphos system, building on DART to advance our knowledge and continue the ongoing international collaboration for planetary defense.« less

Understanding the particle-scale dynamics of granular materials during rapid compaction and flow is of fundamental importance for manufacturing, planetary science, geology, and defense applications. Time-resolved 2D radiography and static 3D x-ray tomography are powerful in situ tools for studying particle-scale dynamics but provide detail only in 2D or with significant time-scale limitations, respectively. Here, we introduce a new method that uses 2D in situ x-ray imaging for determining time-resolved 3D particle-scale dynamics in rapidly compressed granular materials. The method employs initial particle packing structures obtained from x-ray tomography, a 2D x-ray image generation algorithm, and an optimization algorithm. We firstmore » describe and validate the method using finite element simulations. Furthermore, we then apply the technique to x-ray phase-contrast images obtained during rapid compaction of granular materials with varying particle morphology and sample thickness. The depth-resolved particle-scale dynamics reveal complex velocity and porosity fields evolving heterogeneously along and perpendicular to the compaction direction. We characterize these features, their fluctuations near the compaction front, and the compaction front thickness. Our technique can be applied to understanding granular dynamics during rapid compaction events, and rearrangements during slower, but non-quasi-static, flows.« less

We employ an advanced 3D computational model of the head with high anatomical fidelity, together with measured tissue properties, to assess the consequences of dynamic loading to the head in two distinct modes: head rotation and head extension. We use a subject-specific computational head model, using the material point method, built from T1 magnetic resonance images, and considering the anisotropic properties of the white matter which can predict strains in the brain under large rotational accelerations. The material model now includes the shear anisotropy of the white matter. We validate the model under head rotation and head extension motions usingmore » live human data, and advance a prior version of the model to include biofidelic falx and tentorium. Furthermore we then examine the consequences of incorporating the falx and tentorium in terms of the predictions from the computational head model.« less

The conditions which affect twinning in tantalum have been investigated across a range of strain rates and initial dislocation densities. Tantalum samples were subjected to a range of strain rates, from 10^–4/s to 10³/s under uniaxial stress conditions, and under laser-induced shock-loading conditions. In this study, twinning was observed at 77K at strain rates from 1/s to 103/s, and during laser-induced shock experiments. The effect of the initial dislocation density, which was imparted by deforming the material to different amounts of pre-strain, was also studied, and it was shown that twinning is suppressed after a given amount of pre-strain, evenmore » as the global stress continues to increase. These results indicate that the conditions for twinning cannot be represented solely by a critical global stress value, but are also dependent on the evolution of the dislocation density. Additionally, the analysis shows that if twinning is initiated, the nucleated twins may continue to grow as a function of strain, even as the dislocation density continues to increase.« less