How to watch Nasa’s Dart mission crash into asteroid

US space agency says Dart spacecraft will crash into the asteroid, Dimorphos, 6.8 million miles from Earth, at around 7.14pm ET

It is Nasa’s bold plan to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid in a test of the world’s first planetary defence system.

The US space agency has predicted that its Dart spacecraft will crash into the asteroid, Dimorphos, 6.8 million miles from Earth, at around 7.14pm ET on Monday.

The mission will show scientists how well the spacecraft can alter an asteroid’s trajectory using kinetic force, simulating how it would attempt to move one out of the Earth’s way to prevent a doomsday collision if that situation should ever arise.

Nasa says that the vehicle that it launched into space for the high-profile project is roughly the size of a vending machine, while the asteroid is as large as a football stadium.

If successful, it will be the first time humanity has changed the motion of an asteroid or any celestial body.

Nasa has a live stream of the event, which you can find at the top of The Independent’s live blog.

Nasa will be hosting live coverage from 6pm local eastern time, through its NASA TV platforms, which can be found on the agency’s website or on YouTube.

Nasa will also be providing images from the spacecraft itself, starting at 5.30pm, through its media channel.