(ORDO NEWS) — If you agree that watching a spacecraft collide with an asteroid is a great pastime, then we have news for you.
At the end of September, NASA will send its DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft directly to the Dimorph asteroid to produce a controlled collision at high speed. The event will be broadcast live.
DART is the world‘s first test of planetary protection technology , which involves redirecting – changing the orbit – a potentially dangerous object of a relatively small size.
For those worried that this cosmic trick could accidentally send an asteroid toward Earth, NASA clarifies that Dimorph, as a satellite of the larger asteroid Didyma, poses no threat to Earth.
So sit back, relax on the couch, or lean your head over your phone as you watch the first-of-its-kind show, which will unfold September 27 at 02:00 AM BST on NASA TV , the space agency’s official YouTube channel.
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