ESA Plans to Slam Spacecraft Into Asteroid
Posted on August 17, 2011
The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to carry out a mission to slam a spacecraft into an asteroid. The mission, called Don Quijote, is scheduled for 2015. The plan resembles the plot of the Bruce Willis blockbuster, Armageddon, but there will be no humans aboard the ESA spacecraft.
The mission will target the Apophis asteroid, which astronomers say has a slim chance of hitting Earth in 2036.
The Don Quijote mission will have two phases. In the first phase a spacecraft (named Sanchez) will rendezvous with an asteroid and go into orbit around it. Sanchez will orbit Apophis for several months and monitor the asteroid. In the second phase an impactor spacecraft (Hidalgo) will slam into the asteroid, while the first spacecraft watches, looking for any changes in the asteroid's trajectory. The goal of the mission is to see if it is possible to alter the course of an asteroid headed for Earth.
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