Press Event

DART Launch Preview Briefing

Falcon 9 Block 5 | Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

NASA will hold a media briefing about the upcoming launch of the agency’s first planetary defense test mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). Briefing participants include NASA's planetary defense officer Lindley Johnson and representatives from DART project.

DART is currently scheduled to launch at the end of November.

Related Information


Falcon 9 Block 5 | Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

SpaceX | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Nov. 24, 2021, 6:21 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is the first-ever mission to demonstrate the capability to deflect an asteroid by colliding a spacecraft with it at high speed, a technique known as a kinetic impactor. DART is a planetary defense-driven test of one of the technologies for preventing the Earth impact of a hazardous asteroid: the kinetic impactor. DART's primary objective is to demonstrate a kinetic impact on a small asteroid. The binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos is the target for DART. While Didymos' primary body is approximately 800 meters across, its secondary body has a 150-meter size, which is more typical of the size of asteroids that could pose a more common hazard to Earth. The DART spacecraft will achieve the kinetic impact by deliberately crashing itself into the moonlet at a speed of approximately 6 km/s, with the aid of an onboard camera and sophisticated autonomous navigation software. The collision will change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body by a fraction of one percent, enough to be measured using telescopes on Earth.

Heliocentric N/A B1063 - Flight Proven ( ) Of Course I Still Love You
Explore Share

Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 19 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-25
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 5 hours ago
MTG-S1
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Second of EUMETSAT's third generation of weather satellite.


New Shepard
Success
4 days, 11 hours ago
NS-33
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

NS-33 is the 13th crewed flight for the New Shepard program and the 33rd in its history.


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 9 hours ago
Starlink Group 15-7
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


H-IIA
Success
5 days, 9 hours ago
GOSAT-GW (Ibuki GW)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-1 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

GOSAT-GW (Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite Greenhouse gases and Water cycle), also known as Ibuki GW and formerly known as GOSAT 3, is JAXA's nex…


Electron
Success
5 days, 19 hours ago
Symphony In The Stars
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

'Symphony In The Stars' is the first of two dedicated missions on Electron to deploy a single spacecraft to a 650km circular Earth orbit for a confid…


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 21 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-34
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
1 week ago
Get The Hawk Outta Here (4x HawkEye 360)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

HawkEye 360 is a a space-based civil global intelligence satellite network using radio frequency (RF) technology to help monitor transportation acros…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 10-16
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Axiom Space Mission 4
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

This is a Crew Dragon flight for a private company Axiom Space. The mission will carry a professionally trained commander alongside three private ast…