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The asteroid 65803 Didymos takes its name from the Greek word meaning twin. The 775 meter space rock is orbited by a smaller moon 160 meters wide and is classified as a potential hazard by NASA. However, NASA has teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) to fight its crash potential on Earth.
In November, the European Space Ministers should support the HERA project – humanity's first mission to orbit the double asteroid and send two smaller UAVs – named CubeSats – to try to divert it.
Astrophysicist and guitarist Queen Brian May revealed the plans during a promotion video on YouTube last month.
He said: "HERA is led by a multinational team of scientists and engineers," builders and directors of humanity ".
"At the present time, all we have is many years of research and theories, but HERA will revolutionize our understanding of asteroids and how to protect ourselves from them.
"First of all, NASA will send its DART spacecraft into the smallest asteroid at more than six kilometers per second.
"Then ESA comes in."
Dr. May, who earned his Ph.D. in Astrophysics at Imperial College London in 2007, revealed the role that ESA would play in the plan.
He added: "HERA will map the impact crater left by DART and measure the mass of the asteroid.
"The knowledge of this mass is essential to determine what it contains and to know for sure if we will be able to deviate.
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"The extent of this experience is huge, one day these results could be crucial to saving our planet.
"Close observation of HERA after the impact of the DART will help prove that the asteroids can be deflected.
"This will prove to be an effective planetary defense technique."
ESA is working to improve the planet's defense against small asteroids that could annihilate a city.
Next week, they will launch a new £ 915,000 telescope called Flyeye, able to analyze the space and identify any object likely to head for the Earth.
ESA unveiled its plans to the public in a no-nonsense video, which spared its subtleties and plunged into a catastrophic situation.
The hypothetical simulation played a terrifying scenario, with an asteroid en route to hit the Earth in 2028.
The simulation then showed how ESA can save millions of lives.
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