The last image from the "vending machine-sized" collider showed the surface of the asteroid Dimorphos seconds before impact The Double Asteroid Redirection Test is the first-ever trial of a "planetary defence system".
If the orbit of an asteroid can be changed by an object sent into space, humanity may have a chance at protecting itself from the kind of disaster that did it for the dinosaurs.NASA and the international team of astronomers working with them chose their target carefully. To prove success, they needed an asteroid they can carefully monitor following the collision.
They also needed to make sure any impact wouldn't send a previously harmless piece of rock spiralling towards Earth They picked a pair of asteroids the 780 metre-wide Didymos, and its moon Dimorphos which is 160m wide - about the size of the Great Pyramid.
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