NASA's DART Mission Will Test Our Planetary Defense Capabilities Against Asteroids
Experts estimate that Earth gets bombarded with thousands of pieces of cosmic debris each year. While most burn up in the atmosphere, a few hundred survive and hit the planet's surface annually. While the impact of the space rocks, which come hurtling down at rapid speeds, has thus far been minimal, the possibility of an asteroid landing in a densely populated area and causing severe damage cannot be ignored.
To protect our planet and its inhabitants, since 2016, NASA has been trying to come up with a way todeflect errant asteroids heading towards Earth. On February 13, 2019, the US space agency, in collaboration with scientists from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, announced it was ready to test mankind's first-ever planetary defense system.
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