NASA will launch a spacecraft that will crash with a 525-foot-wide asteroid in September.
Although asteroids frequently come quite close to striking Earth, there hasn't been a catastrophic collision with our planet in over 65 million years.
Since the popularity of the 2021 post-apocalyptic comedy "Don't Look Up," interest in impending threats has increased.
The asteroid Dimorphos, which orbits the larger asteroid Didymos, will be struck by the space agency's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) next month.
According to scientists, both asteroids are far from Earth, but Dimorphos, an asteroid that is estimated to be 520 feet long, is one that might cause significant damage to the globe in the event of a collision.
Whatever the outcome, the mission will give astronomers and scientists important knowledge on what would occur if an asteroid were to strike Earth directly.
There is now no threat, according to scientists. We don't want to test this kind of capability while an asteroid is directly aimed at the Earth.