NASA asteroid WARNING: Spacecraft to SLAM into asteroid in planetary defence mission

And it is this ever-present and unpredictable danger that has driven NASA to attempt the new planetary defence system.

Dr Nancy Chabot, the DART Coordination Lead, told express.co.uk: “The damage possible from an asteroid depends very much on the size of the asteroid.

“The DART mission is demonstrating technology that could be used in a planetary defence kinetic impactor mission, which is designed to be most effective for asteroids in the size range of roughly 100-500 meters in diameter.

“If an asteroid of this size hit the Earth, it would cause large scale regional devastation.”

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