American space agency NASA intends to crash a fully functional spaceship into an asteroid.
"NASA will intentionally crash the DART spacecraft into an asteroid to see if that is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future.", tweeted SpaceX on their official Twitter page on Nov 20.
If successful, this could ensure the prevention of human extinction by a catastrophic asteroid crash, even though NASA has stated that Earth is safe from any huge asteroid hit for at least a hundred years.
Some Twitter users made jokes about how this experiment may accidentally lead to the asteroid changing its course and crashing into the Earth instead.
The space shuttle will collide with an asteroid at a speed of 6,600 metres per second.
Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator and Science Mission Directorate of NASA, has requested everyone around the world to join their pre-launch mission briefing on Monday, Nov. 22nd.
It’s almost time to launch the #DARTMission!
— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) November 22, 2021
Join our pre-launch mission briefing on Monday, Nov. 22nd at 7 p.m. EST, where I along with other mission leaders will discuss the upcoming launch. Learn more: https://t.co/ybnL7tPpga pic.twitter.com/f8KNGRXSx4
Thomas also informed in a separate tweet that the liftoff will be at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday, Nov. 24th at 1:21 am. EST.
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