Spacecraft Launches Toward Asteroid Knocked Off Course By NASA (bbc.com)
(Tuesday October 08, 2024 @03:00AM (BeauHD)
from the better-understandings dept.)
- Reference: 0175208169
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/10/08/007250/spacecraft-launches-toward-asteroid-knocked-off-course-by-nasa
- Source link: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly694y5kgeo
The Hera spacecraft, launched by the European Space Agency on Monday, is on a [1]mission to study the aftermath of NASA's 2022 test that successfully knocked the Dimorphos asteroid off course by intentionally crashing a probe into it. It's scheduled to arrive in December 2026. The BBC reports:
> The Hera craft launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 10:52 local time (15:52BST) on Monday. [...] The Hera mission, which is run by the European Space Agency, is a follow-on from Nasa's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) project. Dimorphos is a small moon 160m-wide that orbits an asteroid close to Earth called Didymos in something called a binary asteroid system. In 2022 Nasa said it [2]successfully changed Dimorphos's course by crashing a probe into it. It altered the rock's path by a few meters, according to Nasa's scientists. The asteroid was not on course to hit Earth, but it was a test to see whether space agencies could do it when there is genuine risk. When it arrives in two years, the Hera craft will look at the size and depth of the impact crater created on Dimorphos. Two cube-shaped probes will also study the make-up of the asteroid and its mass.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly694y5kgeo
[2] https://science.slashdot.org/story/22/10/11/2052229/nasa-says-dart-mission-succeeded-in-shifting-asteroids-orbit
> The Hera craft launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 10:52 local time (15:52BST) on Monday. [...] The Hera mission, which is run by the European Space Agency, is a follow-on from Nasa's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) project. Dimorphos is a small moon 160m-wide that orbits an asteroid close to Earth called Didymos in something called a binary asteroid system. In 2022 Nasa said it [2]successfully changed Dimorphos's course by crashing a probe into it. It altered the rock's path by a few meters, according to Nasa's scientists. The asteroid was not on course to hit Earth, but it was a test to see whether space agencies could do it when there is genuine risk. When it arrives in two years, the Hera craft will look at the size and depth of the impact crater created on Dimorphos. Two cube-shaped probes will also study the make-up of the asteroid and its mass.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly694y5kgeo
[2] https://science.slashdot.org/story/22/10/11/2052229/nasa-says-dart-mission-succeeded-in-shifting-asteroids-orbit
So Falcon 9 got un-grounded? (Score:2)
by Ken_g6 ( 775014 )
Wikipedia says this launched on Falcon 9. Falcon 9 got grounded a few days ago due to issues with the second stage on the last ISS launch. I'm guessing that got resolved? Any further issues this launch?
They want to put it back to original orbit? (Score:2)
ESA is doing clean-up work for NASA, and EU is demoted to a role of a space janitor.