Saving the world

DART can reduce risks from meteors

NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection System) Mission is a rare blue sky science project, which directly addresses a long-standing nightmare of mass extinction. It tests proof of concept for a planetary defence system, which could prevent a large asteroid from smashing into the Earth, or making a close fly-by with disastrous consequences. It is known that approximately 66 million years ago, a very large meteorite crashed into the Yucatan region of Mexico and caused the extinction of a large number of animal and plant species. It caused tsunamis and led to a nuclear winter that lasted a long time. It