NASA will crash a $550 million spacecraft into an asteroid

In eight days NASA will deliberately crash a spacecraft into an asteroid in a US$330 million (NZ$550 million) attempt to change the asteroid’s course, RNZ reports. It’s the world’s first full-scale mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid collisions. “This is humanity’s first ever planetary defence test,” Bobby Braun, head of space exploration at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab said at a media briefing. “Everything about this is a test. It’s being done in a safe manner. There’s 0% chance that this asteroid could come towards the Earth, so it’s actually an ideal set-up.”