NASA delays launch of DART asteroid defense mission - Space.com

The mission, called Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), will send a spacecraft to test crash into the near-Earth binary asteroid system called Didymos, in 2022.

The decision to postpone the launch was made by NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) senior leadership following a risk assessment of the DART project schedule.

Delaying the launch of the mission will not affect the spacecraft's arrival at its target, which is slated for October 2022, NASA officials said. .

"At NASA, mission success and safety are of the utmost importance, and after a careful risk assessment, it became clear DART could not feasibly and safely launch within the primary launch window," Thomas Zurbuchen, SMD associate administrator, said in the statement.

"To ensure DART is poised for mission success, NASA directed the team pursue the earliest possible launch opportunity during the secondary launch window to allow more time for DRACO testing and delivery of ROSA, and provide a safe working environment through the COVID-19 pandemic.".

The DART spacecraft will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

NASA is working with SpaceX and the agency's Launch Services Program to identify the earliest possible launch opportunity within this secondary window. !

NASA's DART mission will also carry a small satellite called Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroid, or LICIACube, which was built by the Italian Space Agency to observe the impact at Dimorphos and return images of the event to Earth.

The Hera mission is expected to launch in 2023 or 2024 and will arrive at the asteroid two years later. .