NASA will crash the spacecraft on the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26
The US space agency NASA will deliberately crash a spacecraft into an asteroid in a $330 million effort to change the course of this space object.
It is the world's first full-scale mission to test technology to protect Earth from potential asteroid impacts.
The DART mission, or Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will help determine whether intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to alter its course.
Major references to disaster movies such as Don't Look Up and Armageddon, although astronomers believe such destruction is unlikely to occur in the near future.
By studying the path of the asteroid after the collision, scientists believe they will better understand how collisions can be used to deflect Earth-bound asteroids and comets.
The goal of the DART mission, which launched in November 2021, is to hit Dimorphos, a 160-meter-long asteroid orbiting its parent Didymos.
Near-Earth objects are asteroids and comets with orbits that place them within 50 million kilometers of Earth. NASA says detecting threats that can cause serious damage is the main focus.
The largest asteroid Didymos is about 780 meters in diameter. Its name is the Greek word for "twin," a nod to how the asteroid forms a binary system with the smaller asteroid.
DART will be traveling at approximately 6 kilometers per second when it hits Dimorphos on Monday, September 26, at approximately 19:14 p.m. US time.
It's been a 10-month journey for the spacecraft, which, short of measuring two solar panel arms, is about the size of a small car.
On the day of impact, images will be returned to Earth via LICIACube, a small satellite provided by the Italian Space Agency.
The purse-sized satellite is now traveling behind the ship to record the collision.
At the time of impact, Didymos and Dimorphos will be 11 million kilometers from Earth.
The data collected will contribute to planetary defense strategies, to understand what kind of force might shift the orbit of a near-Earth object that could collide with our planet if ever detected.
