NASA and ESA Geoscientists Bid to Deflect Asteroid

Astrogeology, Asteroids, Robots, Space Flight & Extraterrestrial Matters

Date posted: 10/25/15

Geocientists are not taking any chances, and are attempting to alter an asteroid path in space as a test run for saving humanity. The joint mission by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will try to crash a probe into an asteroid in space to change its route. Although the egg-shaped target, known as Didymoon, is only 525 feet wide, the test will show in principle if a much larger asteroid threatening to wipe out human civilization could be deflected in the same way. Two spacecraft, one to hit the asteroid and another to monitor the effect of the impact, will be launched in October, 2020. They are expected to reach Didymoon in May 2022, scientists told the European Planetary Science Congress in Nantes, France. The video describing the planned activities is worth watching.