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Asteroids have officially been warned ... don't mess with Earth!!!
A NASA spacecraft has intentionally slammed into an asteroid in humanity’s first test of planetary defense.
The impact occurred at 7:14 p.m. ET greeted by cheers from the mission team in Laurel, Maryland. The DART mission, or the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, launched 10 months ago.
While the asteroid, Dimorphos, was not at risk of impacting Earth, this demonstration could determine how to deflect space rocks that could pose a threat to Earth in the future.
The asteroid, Dimorphos, was the size of a football stadium and poses no threat to Earth.
“We’re embarking on a new era of humankind, an era in which we potentially have the capability to protect ourselves from something like a dangerous, hazardous asteroid impact,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division. “What an amazing thing. We’ve never had that capability before.”
The event was the agency’s first full-scale demonstration of deflection technology that can protect the planet.