NASA to have planetary defense test in late September

By Trend

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world's first mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards, will impact its target asteroid on Sept. 26, according to the agency, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The impact, scheduled at 7:14 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Sept. 26, poses no threat to Earth, NASA said on Tuesday.

This test will show a spacecraft can autonomously navigate to a target asteroid and intentionally collide with it to change the asteroid's motion in a way that can be measured using ground-based telescopes, according to NASA.

DART will provide important data to help better prepare for an asteroid that might pose an impact hazard to Earth, said NASA.