DART mission a 'really important study' into Earth protection

ANU astrophysicist and cosmologist Dr Brad Tucker says due to the success of the DART mission, scientists now believe the Earth can be protected from asteroids – but note more data is needed. “The question and the important data here will be ‘how much did we shift it by?’” he told Sky News host Andrew Bolt. “That would then tell us, do we need to do it a million kilometres away from Earth or a billion kilometres away from Earth, and that will then affect how we find the asteroids, how we search for them.” Dr Tucker said the DART mission is a “really important study” which will be helped further by the European Space Agency’s probe Hera, which will land on the wreckage of the asteroid.