The Armageddon Contract: NASA pays SpaceX for the launch of an asteroid



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This is similar to the script of a Hollywood film: NASA announced the launch of the first "planetary defense mission" under the name of DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test). For this one has an agreement with SpaceX closed. The company will launch a satellite in space in 2021 that will bombard an asteroid to determine whether it will allow a significant price change.

NASA launches the first "planetary defense mission"

According to NASA calculations, every day, 1000 to 10 000 tonnes of "meteoric substances" fall on our planet. It's not known since Hollywood films like Armageddon that the danger exists that the Earth is hit by a big asteroid. If you have to approach potentially dangerous chunks, there are currently only theoretical considerations for the defense. However, NASA is currently preparing concrete plans to test the defense of an asteroid in space, as reported in a report from the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) of Johns Hopkins University.
Double asteroid redirection test (DART)SpaceX fires a satellite on NASA's Didymos B asteroid
As a result, NASA has signed a contract with SpaceX providing for the private space company to transport a satellite on board a Falcon 9 rocket to the Didymos double asteroid system. The mission is to test the so-called "kinetic impact" technique, according to which a spacecraft hits a high-speed asteroid to change course, "according to the PLA's mission statement.

Impact in October 2022

DART aims to target the smaller of the two asteroids in the Didymos system, which has a diameter of 160 meters, according to Futurezone's report. After the start-up currently scheduled for June 2021, the impact of the "spaceship" is scheduled for October 2022.

At present, the two asteroids are about 11 million kilometers from Earth. However, the target is at no time a hazard to the Earth, but was selected for testing purposes only. Currently, it is expected that the impact speed is about six kilometers per second, which corresponds to about 21,700 km / h.

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NASA, satellite, space, asteroid, dart, impact

NASA, satellite, space, asteroid, dart, impact
APL

2019-04-15T18: 38: 00 + 02: 00

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