In the 1998 movie Armageddon, astronauts landed on an asteroid and blew it up with nuclear weapons. In another 1998 film, Deep Impact, astronauts do the same to a comet. Both missions were to keep the celestial object from colliding with Earth. The new science fiction comedy Don't Look Up appears to have somewhat the same plot. You may wonder if such a scenario is possible. Yes it is, as we know from the asteroid impact that sent the dinosaurs into oblivion. Is it likely? That depends on what size asteroid, and what size disaster you are willing to endure. But NASA is definitely thinking about contingency plans.
The space agency's Double Asteroid Redirection Test Mission, or DART, is a test to see if we have the know-how to avert an incoming asteroid. The mission lifted off yesterday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It will take nearly a year to reach its target, a moon revolving around the asteroid Didymos. The small asteroid is not on a collision course for Earth, but presents a test case for our ability to alter an asteroid's course.
Rest assured that the DART spacecraft will not deploy nuclear weapons. The aim is not to obliterate the asteroid, just change its trajectory. While that doesn't make the mission quite as exciting as a movie, it will be much more useful for our ability to save Earth if that ever becomes necessary. Read about the mission at CNN.
(Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab)