Discovery Channel and Science Channel will air the feed for NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in a live special, ASTEROID IMPACT LIVE: DART MISSION, airing on both networks Monday, September 26 from 6-7:30PM ET/PT. The special and its simulcast coverage will be of the NASA feed of DART as the mission undergoes its final leg of its journey to make a first attempt to alter the course of an asteroid by intentionally crashing a spacecraft into it. The spacecraft has a camera with a feed back to Earth that will provide live, stunning visuals to the Discovery and Science audiences during the mission’s approach to the two asteroids.
NASA’s DART Mission, built and managed for NASA by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, is humanity’s first attempt to change the motion of an asteroid in space by intentionally crashing a spacecraft into it. DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth. However, it is the perfect testing ground to see if this method of asteroid deflection – known as the kinetic impactor technique – would be a viable way to protect our planet if an asteroid on a collision course with Earth were discovered in the future.
Audiences can join the conversation on social media by using #AsteroidImpactLIVE and following @Discovery and @ScienceChannel on TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.