Joined: 6 Feb 2005 Age: 44 Gender: Male Posts: 24,194 Location: 28th Path of Tzaddi
05 Dec 2021, 12:53 pm
I found this really interesting. We have a near-earth asteroid, Didymos (780 meter diam), that has a small moon, Dimorphos (170 meter diam).
The satellite we sent up on a SpaceX rocket a little over a week ago has two satellites, one 500kg called Dart and another small Italian probe that it will be carrying, LICIACube. The plan is for Dart to make a direct impact at 6.6 km per second into Dimorphos. The idea is that this will elongate Dimorphos's orbit and shift the trajectory of the binary system by 0.4mm. LICIACube will be deployed ten days before impact and will act as a spectator for Dart's impact on Dimorphos.
_________________ “Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word "love" here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace - not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.” - James Baldwin
05 Dec 2021, 12:53 pm
