NASA to Launch First Spacecraft to Hit Asteroid to Test Defence Technologies

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – On 24 November, NASA will launch the first spacecraft designed to collide with an asteroid and help test technologies preventing space catastrophes.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is set to hit the smaller asteroid of the two-asteroid system Didymos and change its trajectory through kinetic impact.

The diameter of the smaller asteroid, known as Dimporphos, is about 160 metres (530 feet) while the larger one is about 780 metres; they pose no threat to Earth. The size of the DART is hundreds of times smaller than Dimorphos and will hit it at a speed of 24,000 kilometres per hour (14,900 miles per hour).

However, the collision doesn't aim to fully destroy the asteroid, but to slightly change its orbit, within one degree, according to DART coordination lead Nancy Chabot.

DART will be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in the US state of California.