NASA’s radical mission to fire a small spacecraft directly into an asteroid now has SpaceX on the roster, too. The space agency announced this week that it’s selected Elon Musk’s aerospace company to launch its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which is slated to lift off in June 2021. Scroll down for videoThe DART mission relies on what’s known as a ‘kinetic impactor’ – in this case a 2.4-meter-long spacecraft with solar electric propulsion. Artist's impression picturedNASA revealed on Friday that it had selected SpaceX to provide the launch services for the upcoming DART mission. The DART mission relies on what’s known as a ‘kinetic impactor’ – in this case a 2.4-meter-long spacecraft with solar electric propulsion.

Source: Daily Mail April 12, 2019 21:45 UTC