NASA gears up to deflect asteroid

Undated handout image issued by ESA/Science Office of the Hera spacecraft, which is to be launched in 2024 to gather data in the aftermath of the crash. A spacecraft built by Nasa is set to intentionally crash into a small asteroid as part of a planetary protection test mission. While this asteroid - named Dimorphos - poses no threat to Earth, the aim of the mission is to demonstrate that dangerous incoming rocks can be deflected by deliberately smashing into them. Issue date: Thursday September 22, 2022.. The spacecraft, known as Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart), is expected to collide with the 170-metre-wide (560ft) asteroid at 00:14 UK time on Tuesday September 27. See PA story SCIENCE Dart. Photo credit should read: ESA/Science Office/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. Credit: ESA/Science Office/PA

NASA attempts a feat humanity has never before accomplished on Tuesday (27 September – Australian time) deliberately smacking a spacecraft into an asteroid to slightly deflect its orbit, in a key test of our ability to stop cosmic objects from devastating life on Earth. R.Sathyanathan, a veteran broadcaster, explains the rare experiment of NASA. Produced by RaySel.

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