The 'Double Asteroid Redirection Test' (DART) is the first mission to test technologies for preventing a hazardous asteroid impacting Earth.
DART will reach its target asteroid in late September 2022; the asteroid in question, known as Didymos, is not considered a threat to Earth.
Nasa wants to find out whether intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future.
The spacecraft is expected to collide at roughly six kilometres per second and the collision will change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body by a fraction of 1 per cent.
The craft will also house a cubesat that will separate from it a few days prior to impact, so that it can take photos of Didymos and study changes to the asteroid’s course following the impact.
The space agency’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida - the multi...