The probe, an ESA project, will study the consequences of a deliberate impact by a NASA spacecraft against an asteroid in order to alter its trajectory

The European Space Agency launched its Hera spacecraft to study an asteroid NASA crashed into two years ago. The mission aims to see if Earth can defend against potential deadly space rocks, but results won't be available until 2026.

The launch of another important mission, NASA's Europa Clipper, is on hold due to Hurricane Milton. Two years ago, a NASA spacecraft smashed into a small asteroid millions of miles from Earth to test a technique that could one day prove useful to deflect an object off a collision course with Earth.