By NASA
November 24, 2021
DART Launch and Separation Events
The second stage will fire up, followed by payload fairing jettison from the DART spacecraft about three minutes after liftoff. About a minute later on, the second stage will cutoff and DART will separate from the 2nd stage.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket raises off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Nov. 23, 2021, carrying NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Mission spacecraft. Credit: NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft has actually introduced from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. DART will quickly be on its trip to rendezvous with an asteroid.
NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft has actually separated from the Falcon 9 2nd stage and is flying by itself. Credit: NASA
NASAs DART Spacecraft Traveling by itself
NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft has actually separated from the Falcon 9 2nd stage and is flying on its own.
NASAs very first flight objective for planetary defense, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) seeks to verify an approach and evaluate to secure Earth in case of an asteroid effect danger. The DART mission intends to move an asteroids orbit through kinetic effect– particularly, by smashing a spacecraft into the smaller sized member of the binary asteroid system Didymos.
The Didymos asteroid system is made up of Didymos and its small, orbiting moonlet, Dimorphos. In 2022, DART will maul into the latter, a boulder about 160 meters (525 feet) in size, and change its orbital period around Didymos by about 10 minutes.
Utilizing ground-based telescope observations prior to and after impact, scientists will be able to compare Dimorphos course around Didymos to determine how much the orbit has altered.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Nov. 23, 2021, bring NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Mission spacecraft. Liftoff was at 10:21 p.m. PST. Credit: NASA
NASAs DART Mission Launches!
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket bring NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft has actually introduced from Space Launch Complex 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Release time was 10:21 p.m. PST on November 23 (1:21 a.m. November 24). DART will quickly be on its trip to rendezvous with an asteroid.