NASA’s First Planetary Defense Mission Propelled by Aerojet Rocketdyne
24 Novembre 2021 - 10:35AM
NASA’s first planetary defense mission—the Double Asteroid
Redirection Test (DART)—launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base,
California, on Nov. 23, equipped with a full suite of Aerojet
Rocketdyne propulsion. The mission is designed to assess if kinetic
impact is a reliable method to deflect asteroids. The DART
spacecraft will be flown head-on into an asteroid to change its
orbit.
DART’s target is a small secondary body (or “moonlet”) orbiting
near-Earth asteroid Didymos that is located approximately 6.8
million miles from Earth. If the impact is successful, the
spacecraft is expected to change the orbital period of the moonlet
around Didymos by several minutes, demonstrating the mission’s
objective and potentially helping to protect Earth from future
potential asteroid threats.
“Aerojet Rocketdyne’s role on this mission is two-fold: enabling
the DART spacecraft to successfully navigate and impact its target
with our chemical propulsion system, and demonstrating an
innovative, new electric propulsion technology that could support
future deep space, national security space and commercial
missions,” said Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and President Eileen P.
Drake.
The roughly 10-month cruise to Didymos will include several
course corrections using Aerojet Rocketdyne’s chemical and electric
propulsion systems to precisely align the spacecraft with the
asteroid. The chemical propulsion system, comprised of 12 MR-103G
hydrazine thrusters, is the primary source of propulsion on the
spacecraft. Each thruster provides 0.2 pounds of thrust (lbf) to
enable trajectory correction maneuvers throughout the cruise phase
of the mission.
The spacecraft also features NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon
Thruster-Commercial (NEXT-C) technology, which will execute
propulsive impulses at various stages during the cruise. NEXT-C
operates at up to 7kW of power and greater than 4100s specific
impulse (Isp). This mission will affirm the capability of Aerojet
Rocketdyne’s ion electric propulsion system for future missions,
including deep space sample return missions or communication
satellites operating in geosynchronous orbit.
NEXT-C was designed and built by Aerojet Rocketdyne in
collaboration with NASA’s Glenn Research Center. The chemical
propulsion system and electric propulsion xenon feed system were
manufactured at Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Redmond, Washington, facility.
The DART mission is funded by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination
Office and led by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory (APL) with support from other industry partners.
About Aerojet Rocketdyne: Aerojet Rocketdyne, a
subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AJRD), is a
world-recognized aerospace and defense leader that provides
propulsion systems and energetics to the space, missile defense and
strategic systems, and tactical systems areas, in support of
domestic and international customers. For more information, visit
www.Rocket.com and www.AerojetRocketdyne.com. Follow Aerojet
Rocketdyne and CEO Eileen Drake on Twitter at @AerojetRdyne and
@DrakeEileen.
Media Contacts:Ashley Riser,
Aerojet Rocketdyne, 571-236-4091ashley.riser@rocket.comMary Engola,
Aerojet Rocketdyne, 571-289-1371mary.engola@rocket.com
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