first mission in planetary defence, and it’s inviting the public to watch as one of its spacecrafts attempts to deflect an asteroid.The DART spacecraft, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last November in a US$330-million project.DART is essentially a test of the centre’s ability to defend our planet against future asteroids and other Earth-bound debris.
It will deliberately slam head-on into Dimorphos, an asteroid that measures 160 metres across, at 24,139 kilometres per hour, on Sept.
26.On Sept. 26, @NASA’s #DARTMission will impact an asteroid, which poses no threat to Earth, as humanity’s first test for #PlanetaryDefense..