Dubbed the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the mission aims to shift an asteroid’s orbit through kinetic impact, in September 2022. Basically, impacting a spacecraft into the smaller member of the binary asteroid system Didymos – classed as a near-Earth potential hazard – to change its orbital speed.
Two launch windows were originally considered: a primary one (July 21, 2021 to August 24, 2021) and a secondary one (November 24, 2021 to February 15, 2022). At the request of Science Mission Directorate (SMD), Nasa says, a risk assessment was performed on the DART project schedule to determine their viability.
