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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – NASA is working on another mission never conducted to investigate an asteroid.
WZDX News had a taste of the solar sail for the Near Earth Asteroid Scout. It's the first mission to use this type of sail to go somewhere.
It was set up Thursday for the first and only time. The next time he'll see how it goes, it will be in space.
The small spacecraft will take a ride with the Space Launch System, bypass the Moon and find itself near an asteroid we do not know much about. collect data.
The sail looks more or less like a giant aluminum kite. It's the length of a school bus and weighs only a pound.
"Think of a saran film covered with an aluminum foil," said principal investigator Les Johnson. "Very, very light."
The sail is the thickness of a human hair and there is no rocket fuel, no fire …
"It reflects sunlight," Johnson said. "When this light is reflected on the sail, it pushes it and makes it move."
If the deployment of the sail from the tiny spacecraft does not seem hard enough, these guys must navigate in space. This is something that there is no instruction manual as this has never been done.
The other half of the mission is to discover what we do not know about asteroids. It turns out that it's a lot.
"We learn about the neighborhood!" Johnson said. "You hear a lot about these asteroids that are getting closer to the earth, there are companies that talk about mining asteroids and just basic science, what are these asteroids made of, how did they form? ? "
And as he walks on the sun, the scout of the NEA can sail after his mission
"It would be like taking a car trip with your friends and never having to worry about it. stop for gas, "laughed Johnson. 19659003] Only this journey on the road ends with new knowledge about our solar system.
The spacecraft is ready to go with the SLS. The launch date is set for December of next year.
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