Carried out on Week 39, Sept. 19th to Sept. 26th
Double Asteroid Redirection Test – The first attempt to divert a celestial body from its trajectory
For a long time, researchers are concerned with the question whether and how one can protect the earth against a serious asteroid impact. The project DART should change now the first time the course of an asteroid. This shall be done by the impact of the DART missile. DART is the first attempt in space research to change the orbit of a celestial body. In the case of an impending impact of an asteroid on Earth, this method could possibly prevent a catastrophe.
This impact is supposed to happen on September 26, 2022 (23.15 UTC) on the double asteroid Didymos.
The experiment will be observed by the satellite LICIACube. The experiment is being conducted by NASA, which launched the DART spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket on November 24, 2021. DART was developed as an impactor, weighs more than 500 kg and has dimensions of 1 x 1.3 x 1.3 m. It has two deployable solar panels for power generation. It is also equipped with a camera and powered by two ion thrusters. The result of the impact is a 0.4 mm/s change in the asteroid’s velocity. Since Didymos does not cross the Earth’s orbit, there is no risk that the asteroid could impact the Earth.
According to estimates, there are about 25,000 asteroids in the solar system that could destroy a city due to their size. Since even the largest probes are very small compared to the average asteroid, the change in orbit is minimal. However, if the asteroid is still several 100 million km away from the Earth, such an impact as from the DART probe can prevent a collision with the Earth.
Sources:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Asteroid_Redirection_Test
https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Mission/index.php
https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/features/course-corrector/
https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Impactor-Spacecraft.php
https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/dart
No brakes this weekend in Montpellier
Airplanes overran runway in Montpellier airport Friday night
In the night from Friday to Saturday, a cargo 737 overran the runway of the Montpellier Airport and ended in the lake located at the end of the track.
This aircraft landed in Montpellier every night and was transporting 14 tones of post mails which were meant to end in Bastia, Corsica. Now in the night of the 23 September, the weather in Montpellier was not at its best, this meteoritical conditions could be one of the possible factors which could explain the reasons of the accident by making the brakes not working as much as they should have. As of now the exact reasons are not known but once the aircraft will be out of the water, an expertise will start to clear the situation.
Now, the Préfet of Hérault announced that the airport would remain closed until the emergency teams and the fire fighters had taken out the aircraft. This operation will be quite technical because of the mass they need to lift out of water without damaging any fuel tank to not pollute the lake which is for now preserved from any fuel leak from the machine.
This accident is exceptional in its form and is a big money pit for the Montpellier Airport since every aircraft must either be cancelled or diverted until the situation is cleared. The Préfet of Hérault hopes that the airport could open at the start of the week.
Source
