NASA crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid that was lying seven million miles away from Earth on Monday. The asteroid was harmless, but the mission was to test if they could redirect the spacecraft's course and use it as a planetary defense.

The mission was called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, which is a "giant step in planetary defense," according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, the U.S. News reported.

Nelson also stated, "it's the world's first mission to test the technology for defending Earth against an incoming killer asteroid."

At 7:14 p.m. on Monday, the spacecraft struck the asteroid Dimorphos at a speed of over 14,000 miles per hour.

"It'll be the first test to help determine our response if we really do see an asteroid that's out there threatening to hit Earth," Nelson said.

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NASA DART Mission Could Save Humanity

The mission tested a planetary defense strategy that might protect Earth from asteroids that are possibly headed for impact with the planet, according to NBC News.

Bruce Betts, the head scientist at the Planetary Society, a nonprofit that engages in research, lobbying, and outreach to support space travel, said it is a unique chance to carry out a real-world experiment on an asteroid that does not threaten Earth.

The DART mission will not only assist scientists in evaluating one of the most well-liked theories for protecting the planet but also offer an exciting means of bringing attention to the importance of making preparations for such events, said Betts, calling the test "a big step forward for humanity."

"The thing that makes this natural disaster different is that if we do our homework, we can actually prevent it," he said. He also stated that it is way different from other large-scale natural disasters.

NASA DART Mission Hits a Fast-Moving Asteroid

Dimorphos, the asteroid that NASA struck, measures 525 feet across. It orbits another larger asteroid named Didymos, which is 2,500 feet wide.

Dimorphos is orbiting Didymos at lightning speed of roughly four miles per second. The DART's mission is not to destroy the asteroid but to see if it is possible to redirect an asteroid's almost 12-hour orbit through collision.

The crash was captured by cameras and telescopes, and it will take days or weeks to determine whether it truly changed the asteroid's orbit.

Meanwhile, NASA official Glen Nagle stated that the DART's intended self-destruction posed no danger to humanity. The test on Monday, according to Nagle, was the first in a line of "planetary protection operations."

Nagle also remarked that this test will give us a better chance than the dinosaurs when an asteroid wiped them out after hitting the Earth 65 million years ago, as stated in The Guardian's report.

"All they could do is look up and go, 'Oh asteroid,'" Nagle added.

Even though no known asteroid larger than 459 feet (140 meters) can collide with Earth in the near future, only about 40% of these large asteroids have been found so far.

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Written by: Bert Hoover

Watch: Nasa crashes Dart spacecraft into an asteroid in 'planetary defense test' - From Guardian News