Nasa spacecraft set to smash into asteroid in planetary protection test mission

Dart will accelerate at about 15,000 miles per hour (24,140 kilometres per hour) before colliding with Dimorphos

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Nasa/Johns Hopkins, APL/Steve Gribben)

A spacecraft built by Nasa is set to intentionally crash into a small asteroid as part of a planetary protection test mission.

While this asteroid – named Dimorphos – poses no threat to Earth, the aim of the mission is to demonstrate that dangerous incoming rocks can be deflected by deliberately smashing into them.