Spacecraft Launches Toward Asteroid Knocked Off Course By NASA (bbc.com) 17
The Hera spacecraft, launched by the European Space Agency on Monday, is on a 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 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.
They want to put it back to original orbit? (Score:4, Funny)
ESA is doing clean-up work for NASA, and EU is demoted to a role of a space janitor.
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Hardly. It is ESA and NASA working together to leverage each other's strengths.
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Hardly. It is ESA and NASA working together to leverage each other's strengths.
ESA does the sums, NASA forgets to convert them.
Relax fella, like the GP, this is a joke.
So Falcon 9 got un-grounded? (Score:2)
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?
Re:So Falcon 9 got un-grounded? (Score:5, Informative)
Reading, the launch was through NASA, technically a NASA mission. The FAA, the grounding authority, turns out to not have the power to ground the missions of other government departments.
So a commercial satellite launch would have to wait on the FAA ungrounding the rocket system, but NASA and the DoD can go 'we accept the risk' and launch anyways.
I personally think the FAA has been told to mess with SpaceX and slow them down. Not a good idea with China breathing down our necks.
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We saw how well that worked out the last time this was said.
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It worked out fine, as 'last time' would technically be this launch.
That said, I figure you are referring to the shuttle launch, but that wasn't telling the FAA off for a non mission impacting anomaly, that was ignoring their own engineers. Also, 13 years ago at this point, they've probably ignored the FAA at least once since then.
Also, SpaceX voluntarily paused operations before the FAA came down with their decision, as they didn't like the malfunction either. But, like I said, I think the FAA has been t
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Reading, the launch was through NASA, technically a NASA mission. The FAA, the grounding authority, turns out to not have the power to ground the missions of other government departments.
So a commercial satellite launch would have to wait on the FAA ungrounding the rocket system, but NASA and the DoD can go 'we accept the risk' and launch anyways.
I personally think the FAA has been told to mess with SpaceX and slow them down. Not a good idea with China breathing down our necks.
In this case, the safety issue wasn't in play because the second stage was being disposed of in deep space, rather than performing a re-entry burn. As such, there was no safety issue.
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Not exactly.
The FAA grounded the Falcon-9 until they resolve the second stage de-orbit burn anomaly, but since the Hera mission does not de-orbit the second stage, the FAA gave approval to launch.
--source: https://spacenews.com/faa-clea... [spacenews.com]
>I personally think the FAA has been told to
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Reading, the launch was through NASA, technically a NASA mission.
I do not think so, Hera is the ESA mission and SpaceX is doing a taxi service, ergo a commercial launch, ergo the FAA authority.
The issue is with FAA giving exception due to the second stage not going through reentry (as many already posted here).
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Actually, I think SpaceX grounded the 9 for a couple of days, not the FAA.
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The 'grounding' is for Falcon 9 second stage not properly landing. This particular launch's second stage is going to Heliocentric orbit, not going anywhere near Earth.
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To clarify, the 2nd stage that caused the grounding is that it came back outside of the agreed upon location. Hera Mission's second stage is not going to be anywhere near Earth.
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Yes, however FAA gave exception for Hera because: Falcon 9 anomaly was in the second stage reentry procedure and the launch of Hera requires so high dV that all the power of Falcon 9 is being used, i.e. Falcon 9 booster is not recovered and the second stage gets escape velocity - no reentry.
Regarding the anomaly, SpaceX has already submitted required documentation - the cause is known and mitigated, however I get more and more convinced that FAA has some grudge against SpaceX, as e.g. the recent Vulcan anom
Kilimanjaro (Score:3)
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Cover your eye.
Why NASA knocked spacecraft off course? (Score:5, Insightful)