Watch spacecraft that launched from Vandenberg collide with an asteroid today
Update, 4:20 p.m.:
DART successfully impacted with the moonlet Dimorphos just after 4:15 p.m.
The impact was livestreamed to thousands of viewers; a camera on board the spacecraft showed an increasingly closer and closer look of the asteroid in the moments before impact.
NASA workers will now determine if the test overall was a success and was able to change the path of the asteroid.
Original story:
In a mission reminiscent of a summer blockbuster movie, NASA will ram a spacecraft into an asteroid on Monday to test whether such an impact can nudge the space rock off its orbit.
At roughly 4:15 p.m., the space agency’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test — known as DART — will hit the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, which at about 525 feet in diameter is just under the size of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
It is NASA’s first-ever planetary defense test, one meant to determine whether a major asteroid impact with Earth could eventually be prevented by striking the object and changing its course.
The historic mission took flight 10 months ago from the Central Coast.
Space X launched the rocket carrying the asteroid-deflecting spacecraft from Vandenberg Space Force Base in November 2021. (You can watch footage of that launch here.)
The launch was a success, and since then, the spacecraft has been making its way to its target.
DART is expected to hit the asteroid at a speed of roughly 15,000 miles per hour. The asteroid does not pose an impact threat to Earth, scientists say.
NASA plans to livestream the entire endeavor, starting at 3 p.m. PST. You can watch the livestream here.
This story was originally published September 26, 2022 at 1:51 PM.
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