The world’s first full-scale planetary defence test – NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission – is designed to strike an asteroid and adjust its course.Today the DART spacecraft is expected to collide with a small asteroid, Dimorphos, at a speed of approximately 6.44 km per second.Dimorphos is 160 metres in diameter, roughly the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza, and orbits a larger companion asteroid, Didymos.If successful, the DART mission will show that intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its speed and trajectory. What we learn could be applied in future to protect Earth from potentially hazardous asteroids.https://www.csiro.au/en/news/News-releases/2022/CSIRO-tracking-NASA-asteroid-collision-te
Dutch company KWS partnered with Wavin and Total to develop PlasticRoad – a prefabricated, modular roadway made from recycled plastic. The modular fitted pieces make it 70% faster to build whilst the plastic hollow design makes it four times lighter than asphalt.The hollow design also allows for pipes and cables to be installed without extensive digging and has the capacity to store excess water during storms and floods. The trial phase began this September with the opening of a bike path in the Netherlands.See https://www.volkerwessels.com/en/projects/plasticroad