NASA successfully launches DART spacecraft into asteroid to see if it can change its course

NASA has successfully smashed a spaceship into an asteroid in an attempt to move an asteroid in space. As the next few months pass we'll learn more about the impact this mission actually had on the asteroid, but DART successfully hit its target, which is humanity's first attempt at moving another celestial body. "Just a small change in its speed is all we need to make a significant difference in the path an asteroid travels.” DART has demonstrated that "we are no longer powerless to prevent this type of natural disaster," Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defence Officer said. Rebecca Allen, an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology, said the mission will help determine how much kinetic impact is needed to measurably change the orbit of an asteroid. “That’s our number two goal, number one was hit the asteroid, which we’ve done but now number two is really measure that period change and characterise how much we actually put out.” Jonti Horner, Professor of Astrophysics and a Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southern Queensland said there will be plenty to learn from this mission.