NASA launches DART mission

The 120-240 meter wide asteroid will flypast Earth in its orbit coming as close as 32,14,516 kilometer to the planet.

Here are some specifics about the DART spacecraft: Cost: $308 million . Weight: 1,345 pounds (610 kilograms) at launch / 1,210 (550 kg) pounds at impact.24 Kas 2021

In August 2018, NASA approved the project to start the final design and assembly phase. The DART spacecraft was successfully launched on 24 November 2021, with collision slated for 26 September 2022 to 2 October 2022 .

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test probe, known as DART, is programmed to head toward a tiny rock millions of miles from Earth and then collide with it. Just under nine minutes after launch, the booster that launched DART into space returned to Earth, landing on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean .

In November 2021, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) robotic spacecraft took off into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on a mission to intercept and change the orbit of an asteroid.