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NASA Picks Falcon 9 Rocket for Launch of Asteroid Mission from Vandenberg AFB
Noozhawk ^ | 04/12/2019 | Janene Scully,

Posted on 04/14/2019 5:47:31 AM PDT by BenLurkin

The spacecraft will demonstrate the capability to deflect an asteroid by colliding a spacecraft with it at high speed, a technique known as a kinetic impactor.

By slamming the spacecraft into an asteroid at a high speed, scientists hope to push the space rock off course.

DART, which will feature solar electric propulsion, has a date to intercept the asteroid Didymos’ small moon in October 2022.

At that point, the asteroid — or what NASA called a moonlet — will be within 11 million kilometers, or 7 million miles, of Earth.

To achieve the collision, DART will employ an onboard camera and sophisticated autonomous navigation software, according to NASA.

Scientists expect that the collision will change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body by a fraction of 1 percent, enough to be measured using telescopes on Earth.

The total cost for NASA to launch DART is about $69 million, which includes the launch service and other mission-related costs, space agency representatives said.

DART is scheduled to launch in June 2021 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4 on the South Base.

(Excerpt) Read more at noozhawk.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy
KEYWORDS: asteroid; catastrophism; elonmusk; falcon9; falconheavy; nasa; spacex; vandenbergafb

1 posted on 04/14/2019 5:47:31 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Uh oh ..... when it’s not coming at you there’s no reason to push. Action equals opposite and equal reaction or so has been said


2 posted on 04/14/2019 5:53:02 AM PDT by no-to-illegals (Liberals, Rinos, moslems, illegals, lamestream media. All want America to fail and die)
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To: BenLurkin

Just wanted to be the first to say “What could go wrong here?”


3 posted on 04/14/2019 5:54:12 AM PDT by j_guru
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To: BenLurkin
What will be the mass of this impactor?

What will be the forecasted velocity of this impactor?

Can NASA create a impact more substantial than a bug hitting a windshield at speed?

4 posted on 04/14/2019 6:06:05 AM PDT by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken<p> that's fore sure)
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To: j_guru

Ditto.


5 posted on 04/14/2019 6:06:49 AM PDT by super7man (Madam Defarge, knitting, knitting, always knitting)
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To: BenLurkin

If it’s got solar electric propulsion, why not soft land it
and use that solar electric propulsion to gently ease the
asteroid into a useful orbit?


6 posted on 04/14/2019 6:11:34 AM PDT by EasySt (Say not this is the truth, but so it seems to me to be, as I see this thing I think I see #KAG)
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To: BenLurkin

It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature


7 posted on 04/14/2019 6:14:34 AM PDT by RckyRaCoCo (Please Pray For My Brother Ken)
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To: j_guru

Just wanted to be the first to say “What could go wrong here?”

...

Nothing more than any other launch.

This is a small rock very far away that’s just going to be nudged a bit.


8 posted on 04/14/2019 6:17:34 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Facts are racist.)
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To: BenLurkin

Send Clint Eastwood
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186566/


9 posted on 04/14/2019 6:20:02 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: BenLurkin

The total cost for NASA to launch DART is about $69 million, which includes the launch service and other mission-related costs, space agency representatives said.

...

SpaceX could be giving them a great price for a dedicated launch. But most likely this is going to be shared with another spacecraft.


10 posted on 04/14/2019 6:20:39 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Facts are racist.)
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To: EasySt

Because they want to test the impactor technique.


11 posted on 04/14/2019 6:21:59 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Facts are racist.)
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To: BenLurkin

So what happens if instead of knocking it off course it breaks it into a thousand smaller steroids that are still on the same course?


12 posted on 04/14/2019 6:25:50 AM PDT by antidemoncrat
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To: j_guru

A ricochet and all life on earth is destroyed.
What happened earlier.....

ICE AGE 5 Short : Scrat In Space !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyfu8pv5nws


13 posted on 04/14/2019 6:46:06 AM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


14 posted on 04/14/2019 2:04:39 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj ("It's Slappin' Time !")
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To: fieldmarshaldj
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.

15 posted on 04/14/2019 10:56:31 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: 75thOVI; Abathar; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AnalogReigns; AndrewC; aragorn; ...
Thanks fieldmarshaldj.



16 posted on 04/14/2019 10:58:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: BenLurkin

For that kind of money, we used to expect some real science. This is such a waste. Physics is physics. Colliding objects isnt science.


17 posted on 04/14/2019 11:06:01 PM PDT by Magnum44 (My comprehensive terrorism plan: Hunt them down and kill them)
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