International Space Agencies to Test-Crash Spacecraft Into Asteroid

In 2015, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA announced the creation of the joint Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) project, which is designed to potentially deflect a space rock from impacting the Earth.

Scientists are planning to launch and crash NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft into an asteroid to test whether the impact is able to deflect its trajectory.

The experiment, conducted under the joint Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) project, will help determine whether such means can be used to defend the Earth from rogue space rocks.

The launch will take place in July 2021, while the spacecraft is scheduled to impact the asteroid in September 2022.

Earlier this year, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched its Hayabusa2 into space and made it fire a bullet into an asteroid’s soil for future tests.