NASA will smash into  an asteroid to rescue  Earth.

NASA will smash into an asteroid to rescue Earth.

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NASA will test a planetary-defense technology this month. DART will be used to smashan

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asteroid on Sept. 26. International partnership to safeguard Earth from asteroid collisions.

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NASA: "While the asteroid presents no danger to Earth, this is the first test of the kinetic impact method"

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In 2021, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched DART from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

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Now, 10 months later DART will catch up by completing three trajectory correction procedures over

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the following three weeks Each movement reduces the spacecraft's margin of error for hitting Dimorphos

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NASA said the navigation team will know Dimorphos' location within 2 kilometres 24 hours before impact

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following the last manoeuvre on Sept. 25. DART will then navigate independently to the space rock

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[{"selector":"#anim-3bf1867d-b986-454d-a549-81fa544d3fd6","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":3000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.4, 0.4, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-a140e56e-3b55-4c53-8c41-63bdca59e0cf","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":0,"duration":1400,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-bb21692e-5ad2-423f-8b3b-f9674eb14b05","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, -608.93722%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":1400,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] The Didymos system was feeble in a 20 million-mile-away picture. After combining pictures, astronomers could locate Dimorphos. Learn more