Rocket to Smack Asteroid Planned by Johns Hopkins University

After meteor blast in Russia, Laurel lab plans to smack an asteroid

Amateur videos show a meteorite falling from the sky in the Ural Mountains in Russia.

By Mark Drajem, Published: February 24 | Updated: Saturday, February 23, 9:57 PM

 

A meteor blast over Russia is putting new focus on a transatlantic effort to crash a spacecraft into a far-flung asteroid in a bid to prove that incoming objects from space can be knocked from their path.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory are preparing a decade-long, $350 million project to propel a rocket into the asteroid Didymos as it passes close to Earth. If successful, it would be the first time an asteroid is knocked off course by human intervention.

“There is a science aspect to it and a planetary defense aspect to it,” Andy Cheng, the chief scientist of the physics laboratory in Laurel, said in an interview.

More - Link >>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/after-meteor-blast-in-russia-laurel-lab-plans-to-smack-an-asteroid/2013/02/24/3cc08720-7bc4-11e2-82e8-61a46c2cde3d_story.html

Source: The Washington Post.

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Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2013/02/russian-meteorite-rush-begins-as.html

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