NASA is planning to launch a mission to crash a satellite into an asteroid, to test if it is an effective way to change its course.

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The mission, named Double Asteroid Redirection Test or DART, is a project that will crash the DART spacecraft into an asteroid on purpose to see if that is an effective way to change its course, encase an Earth-threatening asteroid is discovered in the future.

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DART will target a binary asteroid with two bodies called Didymos. Didymos B is 160 meters large and orbits the larger Didymos A, which is 780 meters in size. If not destroyed, Didymos would safely pass earth by 2022, so we are not in any danger from it.

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According to a statement from NASA, The DART mission is to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 between November 24th, 2021, and February 12th, 2022.

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