1
00:00:00,033 --> 00:00:03,703
DART, DART, DART, DART.
This is the DART spacecraft.

2
00:00:03,703 --> 00:00:07,040
DART is the Double Asteroid
 Redirection Test.

3
00:00:07,140 --> 00:00:11,011
It's just a spacecraft
 that is going to go and smack an asteroid

4
00:00:11,011 --> 00:00:14,481
and see if we can change its trajectory
 just a little bit.

5
00:00:14,647 --> 00:00:17,817
Really, that's all that's
 needed in the event that an asteroid

6
00:00:17,817 --> 00:00:22,389
is discovered well ahead of time before
 it might impact Earth.

7
00:00:22,389 --> 00:00:26,292
It is NASA's first
 planetary defense test mission.

8
00:00:26,726 --> 00:00:31,364
Planetary defense is finding asteroids
 before they find us.

9
00:00:31,364 --> 00:00:35,502
Hitting the asteroid is going to prove out
 whether this technique is something

10
00:00:35,502 --> 00:00:39,172
that we can rely on, were there ever
 to be a hazard facing the planet.

11
00:00:39,639 --> 00:00:41,674
You're there. You can actually stop it.

12
00:00:41,975 --> 00:00:44,169
We can actually do something about it.