The European Space Agency will probe a harmless asteroid Nasa hit in 2022 as part of a "planetary defence test".

The space rock has about a 1 in 560 chance of hitting this planet, the agency says.

The Nasa probe that slammed into a space rock to change its path was helped by the mess it made.

Smashing a probe into threatening space rocks is a strategy to defend Earth, an experiment confirms.

A telescope in Chile captures an image of a comet-like plume of debris behind the giant rock.

Scientists are celebrating the test of a technique to defend Earth against threatening asteroids.

A telescope on Hawaii watches as Nasa's Dart probe smashes into the asteroid Dimorphos.

The same technique could be used to deflect space rocks that threaten Earth.