LAUNCH TIME
2021-11-24T06:20:00Z
It may sound like something right out of science fiction, but on November 23rd at 22:20 local time from Vandenberg Space Force Base a very important, though perhaps not headline grabbing mission will blast off. DART which stands for Double Astroid Redirection Test will be humanity’s first ever dry run in defending Earth from an astroid impact.
MISSION PROFILE
Launching from Vandenberg Space Force Station in California the roughly 500 kg space craft will initially enter a polar parking orbit, before escaping earth and heading to an Astroid known as 65803 Didymos. It is expected to arrive at 65803 Didymos in October 2022. This astroid is actually not one, but two astroids in a binary system. (Hence it’s name as Didymos which is the Greek word for twin) Here the spacecraft will basically in simple terms try to hit the smaller of the two astroids as hard as possible. DART will hit the astroid at about 6.6 km/sec, and this impact is expected to change the astroids orbital speed around the larger of the two astroids in the pair by just 0.5 mm/sec. That may sound insignificant, but over time this could create a change in orbital period of more than 10 minuets. If directed early enough this would actually be enough of a change to alter the course of an astroid that was genuinely earth bound to a safer trajectory.
(Image should be a gif, you may need to click on it first)
LAUNCH VEHICLE
The DART mission with be flying aboard the Space X Falcon 9 rocket. This will be the 13th flight of Falcon 9 out of Vandenberg, and the 128th launch for Falcon 9 overall. The booster will be a block 5 booster serial number B1063, and this will be it’s 2nd flight to space. The booster will be attempting to land on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.”
Animation of the mission
Great breakdown of the mission
I will try to post any live streams or updates as I find them
