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 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

A NASA spacecraft knocked into an asteroid two years ago to test planetary defense. Now, a new mission will inspect the damage, with the goal of helping future asteroid deflection.