impactor
noun
im·pac·tor im-ˈpak-tər 
variants or impacter
1
: a machine (such as a steam or air hammer or a pile driver) or part that operates by striking blows
2
: meteorite
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web This data thus points to shallow melting which would indicate crustal melting triggered via giant impactor rather than from magma originating internally from Earth’s underlying mantle. 
Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 26 Aug. 2022 Canceling the Apocalypse Using a kinetic impactor, for the time being, is the least complicated option available to avert disaster. Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2021 And in 2020, a paper published in Nature Communications concluded that the impactor struck at the worst possible angle and caused maximum damage. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 23 Feb. 2022 But in the case of a slightly less substantial object, a kinetic impactor could just shoot right through, like a bullet through a cake, blowing it into small but still dangerous chunks. Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2021 The most spectacular mission before Rosetta was NASA's Deep Impact, which in 2005 dropped an impactor into the nucleus of comet Tempel 1, while the mother-ship watched. The Week Staff, The Week, 1 Oct. 2018 For instance, a fleet of several impactor spacecraft, like the mission design used by astronomers in the Tokyo simulation, could be used to alter a bigger asteroid’s course. New York Times, 24 Nov. 2021 Once fragmented, the incoming impactor’s energy would be efficiently converted into heat, sound and light by the Earth’s atmosphere, which would act much like a bulletproof vest absorbing a blast of buckshot. Scientific American, 13 Oct. 2021 Barely a month later, an impactor spacecraft named Dart will give chase to a double-asteroid closer to home. NBC News, 15 Oct. 2021 See More
Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 26 Aug. 2022 Canceling the Apocalypse Using a kinetic impactor, for the time being, is the least complicated option available to avert disaster. Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2021 And in 2020, a paper published in Nature Communications concluded that the impactor struck at the worst possible angle and caused maximum damage. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 23 Feb. 2022 But in the case of a slightly less substantial object, a kinetic impactor could just shoot right through, like a bullet through a cake, blowing it into small but still dangerous chunks. Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 18 Nov. 2021 The most spectacular mission before Rosetta was NASA's Deep Impact, which in 2005 dropped an impactor into the nucleus of comet Tempel 1, while the mother-ship watched. The Week Staff, The Week, 1 Oct. 2018 For instance, a fleet of several impactor spacecraft, like the mission design used by astronomers in the Tokyo simulation, could be used to alter a bigger asteroid’s course. New York Times, 24 Nov. 2021 Once fragmented, the incoming impactor’s energy would be efficiently converted into heat, sound and light by the Earth’s atmosphere, which would act much like a bulletproof vest absorbing a blast of buckshot. Scientific American, 13 Oct. 2021 Barely a month later, an impactor spacecraft named Dart will give chase to a double-asteroid closer to home. NBC News, 15 Oct. 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1872, in the meaning defined at sense 1