Nasa successfully crashes spacecraft into asteroid in planetary defense test

Bid to change asteroid ’s course marks ‘new era of humankind’ as agency seeks to protect Earth from future disasterA multimillion-dollar spacecraft collided head-on with an asteroid the size of a football stadium on Monday in an unprecedented test of Nasa ’s capacity to defend Earth from a doomsday scenario.Nasa ’s craft successfully crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos 6.8m miles from Earth. The mission, known as Dart (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), marked humanity’s first attempt at moving another celestial body, with the goal of seeing if a large asteroid hurtling toward our planet could be succes sfully diverted.Continue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - September 27, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Richard Luscombe in Miami Tags: Nasa Space Science US news Source Type: news