Nasa's spacecraft to deflect asteroid goes into final checks, launch in late November
Days after scientists launched a probe towards trojan asteroid swarms surrounding Jupiter, Nasa is gearing up for a major asteroid mission. Scientists will launch the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft to demonstrate the capability of deflecting an incoming asteroid towards Earth. The spacecraft reached Vandenberg Space Force Base from where it will be launched towards a binary asteroid system Didymos, which means "twin" in Greek. The DART mission will target an asteroid as engineers and astronomers aim to create a defence system able to deflect potential asteroids headed towards Earth in future. Nasa said that the spacecraft will impact Dimorphos nearly head-on, shortening the time it takes the small asteroid moonlet to orbit Didymos by several minutes.
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