There have been plenty of science fiction movies about an asteroid potentially crashing into Earth, but luckily that isn’t as common an occurrence in real life. However, just in case the planet ever runs into a similar situation, NASA wants to be prepared. The space agency recently announced they will soon test a new asteroid redirect spacecraft by intentionally crashing it in space.
NASA’s new Double Asteroid Redirect Test spacecraft will be put to the test at the end of September, when it will intentionally crash into an asteroid not far from Earth. According to Fox 4 News, the mission will be an international collaboration to protect the globe from future asteroid impacts. "While the asteroid poses no threat to Earth, this is the world's first test of the kinetic impact technique, using a spacecraft to deflect an asteroid for planetary defense," said NASA.
The mission will take place on September 26th. DART was previously launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and now 10 months later will catch up to the asteroid to execute three trajectory correction maneuvers over the next three weeks. Hopefully this test works, and one day saves the world from an asteroid.
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