We Want YOU to Become a Planetary Defender!

There are no known asteroid threats to Earth for at least 100 years. But that doesn’t mean we’re not looking — our #PlanetaryDefense team is constantly watching the sky to find & track potential hazards.

We want YOU to join the team of planetary defenders! Participants can answer a short series of questions about planetary defense to earn their planetary defender certificate, which they can download or print, as well as a digital badge to share on social media. Post using #PlanetaryDefender To participate, visit: https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Planetary-Defender

Learn more about NASA's #DARTMission: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/pdco/index.html#dart

DART is a spacecraft designed to impact an asteroid as a test of technology. DART’s target asteroid is NOT a threat to Earth. This asteroid system is a perfect testing ground to see if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future. While no known asteroid larger than 140 meters in size has a significant chance to hit Earth for the next 100 years, only about 40 percent of those asteroids have been found as of October 2021.