A NASA spacecraft successfully slammed into an asteroid on Monday evening, testing technology that could be used in the future to protect Earth.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft hit the asteroid at 14,000 miles per hour, in a test to see if DART could knock it off its path. NASA is looking for ways to defend the planet from asteroids and smaller objects hurtling through space, which are "far more numerous, and although they would not set off mass extinctions, they can unleash more energy than a nuclear bomb," The New York Times writes.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Why are Republicans suddenly panicking about DOGE?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As Trump and Musk take a chainsaw to the federal government, a growing number of Republicans worry that the massive cuts are hitting a little too close to home
-
What is JD Vance's Net Worth?In Depth The vice president is rich. But not nearly as wealthy as his boss and many of his boss' appointees
-
How to travel in the wake of a natural disasterThe Week Recommends Stay safe while being respectful
-
How worried should we be about asteroids?Today's Big Question Odds of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth have fluctuated wildly this week
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 yearsSpeed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
-
Scientists report optimal method to boil an eggSpeed Read It takes two temperatures of water to achieve and no fancy gadgets
-
Earth's mini-moon was the moon all alongUnder the radar More lunar rocks are likely floating in space
-
Europe records big leap in renewable energySpeed Read Solar power overtook coal for the first time
-
The moon has been listed as a threatened historic siteUnder the radar Human influence has extended to space
-
What is the future of the International Space Station?In the Spotlight A fiery retirement, launching the era of private space stations
-
Blue Origin conducts 1st test flight of massive rocketSpeed Read The Jeff Bezos-founded space company conducted a mostly successful test flight of its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket
