SpaceX announced that stormy weather is threatening to delay the launch of the European spacecraft Hera, originally scheduled for Monday, on a mission to investigate a stray asteroid by NASA.
The vehicle is expected to survey the damage caused by a NASA spacecraft to an asteroid when it collided in 2022 during the first test of the planet Earth’s defenses.
The vehicle was Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). He deliberately collided with the asteroid Dimorphos, which is the size of a pyramid and is about 11 million kilometers from Earth.
The spacecraft, slightly smaller than a car, as expected, collided with the asteroid at a speed exceeding 20,000 kilometers per hour..
The spacecraft successfully deflected the asteroid, proving that humanity may no longer be powerless against planet-destroying asteroids, which could destroy us. future attack.
But many details about the impact are still unknown, including how much damage was done and what the asteroid looked like before the impact.
So the European Space Agency (ESA) says they will Spaceship “Hera” to the asteroid to do what she called a “crime scene investigation,” hoping to learn more about how Earth might encounter asteroids in the future.
The spaceship is expected to be launched on a Falcon 9 rocket made by SpaceX from Cape Canaveral Base in the US state of Florida, at 10:52 am local time.
However, storms were expected in the launch area.
SpaceX wrote on the X platform yesterday, Sunday, that the current weather is only 15% suitable for launch. If a delay is necessary, a backup launch is scheduled for Tuesday at 10:46 a.m. local time, according to SpaceX.
The launch window for the mission will be open until October 27th.
