Oct 21, 2021
NASA’s ‘Armageddon’-style asteroid deflection mission takes off in November
Posted by Quinn Sena in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks, satellites
NASA has a launch date for that most Hollywood of missions, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which is basically a dry run of the movie “Armageddon.” Unlike the film, this will not involve nukes, oil rigs or Aerosmith, but instead is a practical test of our ability to change the trajectory of an asteroid in a significant and predictable way.
The DART mission, managed by the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (!), involves sending a pair of satellites out to a relatively nearby pair of asteroids, known as the Didymos binary. It’s one large-ish asteroid, approximately 780 meters across — that’s Didymos proper — and a 160-meter “moonlet” in its orbit.
Continue reading “NASA’s ‘Armageddon’-style asteroid deflection mission takes off in November” »