NASA has launched a £300m SpaceX rocket to test if it could change the direction of an asteroid set to hit Earth in a bid to improve planetary defence.
Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is set to collide with the asteroid 11km above the Indian Ocean tomorrow at 12.14am. DART will hit the asteroid named Dimorphos at four miles per second. If the experiment is successful the asteroid will be deflected meaning there could be a potential planet defensive system if one should ever be found on a collision course with Earth.
The 163-meter-wide asteroid, which is larger than The Great Pyramid of Giza, is circulating a larger asteroid called Didymos which is 780 meters in diameter. This is more than twice the size of the Eiffel Tower. It is not a danger to Earth and when Dimorphos is hit by DART it will raise a cloud of debris and slow its orbit around a larger asteroid.
