NASA Is Getting Ready, to Smash a Spacecraft, Into an Asteroid .<br />On September 26, NASA will <br />intentionally slam a golf cart-sized<br />spacecraft into a tiny asteroid.<br />At the time of impact, <br />the bullet-like spacecraft will be <br />traveling at 14,000 miles per hour.<br />At the time of impact, <br />the bullet-like spacecraft will be <br />traveling at 14,000 miles per hour.<br />'Business Insider' reports that <br />the mission is humanity's first test of our <br />ability to deflect dangerous asteroids.<br />Currently, NASA is aware of the location and orbit of about 28,000 local asteroids.<br />In November 2021, NASA launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.<br />The $308 million spacecraft has since traveled <br />6.8 million miles to reach Dimorphos, a small <br />asteroid that orbits a larger asteroid, Didymos.<br />DART's mission is to nudge <br />the space rock into a slightly tighter <br />orbit around its companion asteroid.<br />I'm highly confident that we <br />are going to hit on Monday and that <br />there will be a complete success, Lindley Johnson, NASA's first planetary <br />defense officer, via 'Business Insider'.<br />DART's Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera <br />for Optical navigation (DRACO) will capture <br />one image per second to document the impact.<br />We are excited for what <br />DRACO will reveal about Didymos <br />and Dimorphos in the hours and <br />minutes leading up to impact, Carolyn Ernst, DRACO instrument <br />scientist at APL, via 'Business Insider'.<br />NASA will livestream the images captured by <br />the spacecraft on its website beginning <br />at 5:30 p.m. ET on September 26.
