Nasa is ready to crash its Dart mission into an asteroid

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is prepared to crash after nearly nine months of space travel.

The spacecraft will collide with Dimorphos, a moonlet of the asteroid Didymos, while on a mission to test a technology that might one day be used to divert an asteroid heading for Earth.

The spacecraft has now located its final destination as it travels toward the September 26 planned collision with the asteroid, which poses no threat to Earth.

The goal of the mission is to test the first kinetic impact method ever developed.

The spacecraft used the Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical navigation (DRACO) in July to snap 243 images of the dark space ahead of itself and form a composite, which shows asteroid Didymos and its orbiting moonlet Dimorphous.

At the time, the spacecraft was 20 million miles away from the Didymos system.

The composite image showed Didymos in the darkness of space and located its location, despite engineers being doubtful if the spacecraft will be able to see its target from that distance.

The photographs are important because the spacecraft will need to be able to observe and interpret images of Didymos and Dimorphos in order to direct the spacecraft toward the asteroid, especially in the final four hours before impact, once it too can be seen.