NASA’s DART mission will smash spacecraft into a huge asteroid — here’s how to watch

On Sept. 26, 2022, NASA's DART Mission will impact an asteroid that poses no threat to Earth as humanity’s first test for planetary defence.

NASA is getting ready for the world’s first mission in planetary defence, and it’s inviting the public to watch as one of its spacecrafts attempts to deflect an asteroid.

The DART spacecraft, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last November in a US$330-million project.

DART is essentially a test of the centre’s ability to defend our planet against future asteroids and other Earth-bound debris. It will deliberately slam head-on into Dimorphos, an asteroid that measures 160 metres across, at 24,139 kilometres per hour, on Sept. 26.

Dimorphos poses no threat to Earth, NASA makes clear, but offers scientists a way to measure the effectiveness of the collision.

“This isn’t going to destroy the asteroid. It’s just going to give it a small nudge,” said mission official Nancy Chabot of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, which is managing the project, during DART’s launch last year.

Dimorphos completes one orbit of Didymos every 11 hours, 55 minutes. DART’s goal is a crash that will slow Dimorphos down and cause it to fall closer toward the bigger asteroid, shaving 10 minutes off its orbit.