NASA to fly spacecraft directly into asteroid in attempt to alter its course

NASA will test its earth defence technology when it launches a spacecraft into an asteroid next Monday. The $AUD487 million Double Asteroid Redirection Test or ‘DART’ will test NASA’s defence capabilities in the unlikely event Earth collides with an asteroid In a world first mission, the DART will target a small moon called ‘Dimorphos’ currently orbiting the asteroid ‘Didymos’. The DART will collide with the moonlet at a speed of roughly six kilometres per second.