SpaceX is scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket as part of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. The launch window for the Robotic Exploration mission is on 06/01/2021 UTC (UNCONFIRMED) from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg AFB, CA. Don’t miss this exciting rocket launch! Watch the launch video of the Falcon 9 Block 5 and experience the excitement for yourself.

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Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is the first-ever mission to demonstrate the capability to deflect an asteroid by colliding a spacecraft with it at high speed – a technique known as a kinetic impactor.

DART is a planetary defense-driven test of one of the technologies for preventing the Earth impact of a hazardous asteroid: the kinetic impactor. DART’s primary objective is to demonstrate a kinetic impact on a small asteroid. The binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos is the target for DART. While Didymos’ primary body is approximately 800 meters across, its secondary body (or “moonlet”) has a 150-meter size, which is more typical of the size of asteroids that could pose a more common hazard to Earth.

The DART spacecraft will achieve the kinetic impact by deliberately crashing itself into the moonlet at a speed of approximately 6 km/s, with the aid of an onboard camera and sophisticated autonomous navigation software. The collision will change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body by a fraction of one percent, enough to be measured using telescopes on Earth.