Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab’s latest space mission: Flying a satellite into an asteroid.
Scientists from the Laurel-based lab recently got the go-ahead from NASAto move forward on design of a spacecraft that could land on an asteroid, and deflect it from a collision course with Earth. The refrigerator-sized spacecraft would be the centerpiece of a mission called Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART.
The problem they’re trying to solve may recall certain late 1990s blockbusters. In this case, however, there isn’t imminent danger and the asteroids don’t need to be broken apart. As the JHU Hub explains, it just takes a little nudge:
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
