NASA has confirmed that a comet will sweep across Mars, possibly knocking out spacecrafts in orbit around the Red Planet.

Comet C/2013 A1, also called Sliding Spring, was around 353 million miles from Earth and was discovered in 2013. The comet was first seen by Robert McNaught, an Australian comet hunter. The Near Earth Object Program Office of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has been tracking the comet's path since its discovery. The Hubble Space Telescope is also monitoring it and has recently released photos of Sliding Spring.

In late January and on March 11, Earth has crossed the path of the comet which allowed astronomers to detect its speed and study the trajectory of the dust flying off the nucleus of the comet.

The researchers explained that a direct collision with the Red Planet is unlikely; however, the comet will have a very near brush against Mars. Its nucleus is predicted to be at closest approach to Mars on Oct.19 at 2:28 ET. The encounter will happen within 85,600 miles of Mars, half of the moon's distance from the Earth.

The particles disintegrating from the comet may travel as fast as 125,000 miles per hour and according to researchers, this might cause considerable damage to the spacecraft orbiting around Mars.

"This is critical information that we need to determine whether, and to what degree, dust grains in the coma of the comet will impact Mars and spacecraft in the vicinity of Mars," Jian-Yang Li of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona told the National Geographic.

As of the moment, mission teams have yet to identify the types of risks that they might be dealing with but they are preparing all resources for all possible outcomes of the encounter.

On Oct.25, Sliding Spring will be at its closest distance to our planet, however, it will not be visible to the naked eye. Catching a glimpse of it through a telescope would be possible on Oct.19 when the encounter with Mars is predicted to happen.