European space mission would study deep-space impacts

Ars Technica : The European Space Agency is planning to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid. The Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission would actually comprise two spacecraftâmdash;one to crash, and the other to gather data. The first, called DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), would impact a near-Earth asteroid, 65803 Didymos, at a velocity of 6.25 km/s. The second, AIM (Asteroid Impact Monitor), would carry multiple sensors to observe the asteroid before, during, and after the impact. Such a study could aid research into asteroid deflection to prevent potential catastrophes caused by near-Earth objects striking the planet. Because DART’s velocity would be fast enough to vaporize pieces of the asteroid, the event could also provide the opportunity for researchers to study conditions that may have existed during the early solar system.