NASA's DART spacecraft to crash into asteroid

NASA's DART spacecraft will complete its planned crash into an asteroid this morning, in a test of the world's first planetary defence system. The probe is designed to deflect an asteroid from a potential doomsday collision with Earth. The mission will test the ability of the spacecraft to alter the asteroid's trajectory through kinetic force, as it plows into the object at high speed. NASA says the asteroid, called ‘Dimorphos’, is not on a path to hit the Earth – and the test will not accidentally deflect it into our direction.