One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
Here's Why NASA Is Crashing A Spacecraft Into An Asteroid (And Where To Watch It Happen)
llustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft and the Italian Space Agency’s (ASI) LICIACube prior to impact at the Didymos binary system.
(
Courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben
)
Heads up! A celestial collision is set to happen Monday, when a NASA spacecraft carries out its test mission to nudge an asteroid hurtling through space.
Its purpose is to alter the path of any future asteroid that might be on a course to strike Earth.
"NASA is not aware of any threatening asteroids to date, but we keep on looking, and the key is finding them before they find us," said Marina Brozovic, a physicist and asteroid specialist at JPL.
That's the aim of the mission, known as DART, or Double Asteroid Redirection Test.
"This is the very first demonstration of this planetary defense technology because we need to start doing it," Brozovic said.
We spoke with her ahead of the summer opening of an IMAX movie about asteroids in which she appears.
DART is scheduled to impact its target asteroid, Dimorphos, at 4:14 p.m. on Sept. 26.
Sponsored message
You can watch on NASA TV or the agency's social media accounts.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
