NASA Dart Mission Will Collapse Asteroid Dimorphos with Spacecraft

Asteroids are remnants of the Solar System. In the very rare event where a space rock’s path around the Sun crosses Earth so that the two objects intersect at the same time, a collision can occur.

The $325 million (£240 million) Dart mission will target a pair of asteroids orbiting close to each other – known as a binary.

The larger of the two objects, called Didymos, measures about 780m, while its smaller companion – Dimorphos – is about 160m wide.

An object the size of a Dimorphos can explode with energy many times that of a regular nuclear bomb, destroying populated areas and causing tens of thousands of casualties. Asteroids with a diameter of 300m and larger can cause devastation across a continent, while those larger than 1km will have a worldwide effect.

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