NASA is making sure we don't suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs.

The organisation's DART Mission is crashing a probe into an asteroid about 12.14pm this afternoon New Zealand time

The goal is to see if the probe can deflect an asteroid 11-million kilometres away to avoid any possible future impact.

Canterbury University astronomer Michelle Bannister, who's part of the investigation team, told Mike Hosking they don't know what could happen.

She says they need to know the material of the asteroid and how it behaves when given a nudge like this.

Michelle Bannister says it will be months before they know the result of the operation.

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