NASA and ESA are working together on a mission that would crash a spacecraft into an asteroid. The mission, to launch in 2019 and reach the asteroid in 2022, will analyze the composition of the body, but the main objective will be trying to deflect the asteroid into a slightly different orbit-- an early test of a possible planetary defense capability.
The target asteroid is, in fact, a binary system that is not a threat to Earth. Such gravitationally bound asteroids are not uncommon. The impactor spacecraft would hit the smaller of the two, as it would be easier to move.
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