The launch of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will be visible in the night sky over Southern California. The DART mission will be launched by the Falcon 9 rocket at the launchpad at the Space Force Base in California. Bill Ingalls is from NASA and JHU-APL is from JHU-APL.
If you live in California or the southwest United States, you could be in for a launch show on Tuesday.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test is scheduled to start at 10:20 p.m. The time is 1:20 a.m. On Nov. 24, we will attempt to slightly alter the path of an asteroid moonlet to test planetary defense technologies. NASA still wants the practice for future-proofing even though there are no asteroid threats.
Under dark and clear sky conditions, Californians and those further south in Las Vegas may be able to see the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. DART will rendezvous with its asteroid target in the fall of 2022.
NASA's launch director told Space.com that the launch should be visible from the Southern California coast.
NASA's DART asteroid-impact mission is explained in pictures.
Andy Rivkin, co-lead of the DART investigation at the John'sHopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, wrote on his website that if the estimates are correct, the launch should be visible. Rivkin said that people have seen launches in the past. I will keep you posted.
The coronaviruses will make viewing conditions difficult due to social distance. There may not be as many public viewing sites as there were when the NASA InSight mission was launched.
The rugged terrain of southern California means that the coast is prone to fog and cold, so make sure to dress warmly and drive carefully if you are going to commute away from your residence.
You can still catch the launch online through NASA and Space.com. The agency will have several social events happening for a virtual close-up view of launch preparations, as well as a live launch stream.
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