Hera mission – pressnews

ESA is preparing for an asteroid strike and Apophis will play a big role in it; know how

13Feb

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Technology

ESA is preparing for an asteroid strike and Apophis will play a big role in it; know how

[ad_1] A decade ago, the Earth was struck by the Chelyabinsk asteroid over Russia's Ural region. The asteroid exploded above the city and created a shockwave affecting 1500 people and destroying over 7300 buildings. It served to create fear, but more than that, it sent all the space agencies back to the drawing board to prepare contingency plans for such an event that may have far worse consequences. The fear of asteroid strike is always swings there as it had wiped out the dinosaurs from the face of Earth millions of years ago. Therefore, to study such potential Earth-striking asteroids and the impact they may have, the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space created two international bodies: the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Plann...

One month after the NASA asteroid collision success, what have scientists learned?

[ad_1] It has been one month since the historic NASA DART asteroid crash. What new secrets have the scientists revealed in this time? Check details. On September 26, NASA made history! For the first time ever, humans were able to shake and actually move a celestial body. The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission sent a spacecraft to an asteroid called Dimorphos and struck it headfirst. The mission was conducted to find a reliable way to defend the Earth from any incoming asteroids. But a secondary objective was also to take a close look at the smallest asteroid any spacecraft has visited. So, what have the scientists found out after churning out the data for a month? Read on to find out.Carolyn Ernst, a planetary scientist responsible for DART's sole instrument told Spa...

European Space Agency to launch two missions on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets

[ad_1] The European Space Agency announced Thursday it will use SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets to launch two scientific missions because of delays to its own Ariane 6 rocket and the cancellation of flights on Russia's Soyuz launchers. The ESA's Euclid space telescope had been planned to launch next year on a Soyuz rocket, but in February Russia pulled out in response to European sanctions over Moscow's war in Ukraine. Euclid, which aims to better understand the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter, will now instead catch a ride into space on the Falcon 9 rocket of billionaire Elon Musk's US company SpaceX. The ESA's Hera mission, which will probe the Didymos asteroid that NASA successfully knocked off course in September by smashing the DART spacecraft into it, will launch on a F...