NASA gears up to deflect asteroid, in key test of planetary defense

If DART succeeds, then it's a first step towards a world capable of defending itself from a future existential threat, said planetary scientist Nancy Chabot

A man sits at his workstation within the Mission Operations Center for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spaceship, which is fast approaching its target

Bet the dinosaurs wish they'd thought of this.

We know that from the geological record -- for example, the six-mile wide Chicxulub asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago, plunging the world into a long winter that led to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs along with 75 percent of species.