an asteroid actually headed towards the earth. we want to know that we can use this technique to change its orbit so it does not impact earth. nasa is targeting a small asteroid called dimorphos which is orbiting around a larger space rock. the spacecraft, travelling at 13,000 miles an hour, will fly into the small asteroid, leaving an impact crater up to 20 metres wide. but this should also give the rock a kick which will speed up its orbit and this can be monitored from the earth to see if it has worked. all you really need is a nudge. because the distances you are going and the speeds you are going, a tiny change in direction can result in a huge change in how far it is going to miss the earth. and that could be vital. a 160 metres wide rock like dimorphos could be catastrophic for populated areas. bigger asteroids that are kilometres across have the potential to devastate the planet. the hope is this mission will show us if it is possible to stop future collisions.
collision with earth. it was launched from the vandenberg us space force base about 150 miles northwest of los angeles on a spacex owned falcon 9 rocket. rebecca morelle reports. it s a first for nasa. sending a spacecraft to an asteroid to crash into it and knock it off course. this rock doesn t pose any danger to our planet, but the dart mission is a test of technology for any future threats. the reason we are doing this is in case we ever discover an asteroid actually headed towards earth. we want to know that we can use this technique to change its orbit so that it will not impact us. nasa is targeting a small asteroid called diomorphos, which is orbiting around a larger space rock. the spacecraft travelling at 13,000 miles an hour will fly into the small asteroid, leaving an impact crater up to 20 metres wide. but this should also give the rock a kick which will speed up its orbit.
eleven million kilometres away. the object poses no threat to earth, but we ll have to wait ten months to find out if the missile hits the target. our science correspondent rebecca morelle reports. it s a first for nasa. sending a spacecraft to an asteroid to crash into it and knock it off course. this rock doesn t pose any danger to our planet, but the dart mission is a test of technology for any future threats. the reason we are doing this is in case we ever discover an asteroid actually headed towards earth. we want to know that we can use this technique to change its orbit so that it will not impact us. nasa is targeting a small asteroid called diomorphos, which is orbiting around a larger space rock. the spacecraft travelling at 13,000 miles an hour will fly into the small asteroid, leaving an impact crater up to 20 metres wide. but this should also give the rock a kick which will speed up its orbit. and this can be monitored from the earth to see if it s worked. all you really ne
up to 20 metres wide. but this should also give the rock a kick which will speed up its orbit. and this can be monitored from the earth to see if it s worked. all you really need is a nudge, because the distances you re going and the speeds you re going, a tiny change in direction can result in a huge change in how far it s going to miss the earth. and that could be vital. a 160 metre wide rock like diomorphos could be catastrophic for populated areas. bigger asteroids that are kilometres across have the potential to devastate the planet. the hope is this mission will show us if it s possible to stop future collisions. the spacecraft will arrive at its destination next autumn. rebecca morelle, bbc news. without wishing to scare you at all! all you need is a little nudge to push the asteroid, we will be fine. we will see live pictures of the rocket taking off in about ten minutes, hopefully. they are saying