NASA and SraceX launch spacecraft to shoot down an asteroid
Miscellaneous / / November 24, 2021
November 24 from the US Space Force Base in Vandenberg started SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle with a DART probe (Double Asteroid Redirection Test). This device will have to crash into an asteroid.
The main goal of the mission is to find out if a deliberate collision of a spaceship with an asteroid is an effective way to change its course. In the future, this may help to reflect dangerous space objects that threaten our planet.
The target of the 610-kilogram DART probe is the double near-Earth asteroid Didymos and its satellite Dimorfos, which currently do not pose a threat to the Earth.
The collision of Dimorfos with a spacecraft should occur in the fall of 2022 at a speed of about 24 thousand km / h. Before crashing, DART will deploy a small satellite, LUCIACube, to capture the event.
DART was developed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, with navigation and solar panels handled by Redwire.
The asteroid Dimorfos is about the size of the Pyramid of Cheops, and Didymos is wider in diameter than the height of the World Trade Center tower in New York.
The script for the DART mission is reminiscent of Michael Bay's 1998 sci-fi action movie Armageddon. With the exception that the asteroid now does not threaten the Earth, and the flight is completely unmanned. However, the NASA team still invited Bruce Willis, who played the main role in the film, to attend the launch of the mission. Actor from this invitation refused.
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