Two spacecraft being built at a cost of £225million... so they can be CRASHED into an asteroid to look inside it

  • Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission (AIDA) to launch 2019
  • It will send two spacecraft on a three-year voyage to the asteroid Didymos
  • Could show how 'dangerous asteroids can be deflected from hitting earth'

By Amanda Williams

Published: 05:58 EST, 26 March 2013 | Updated: 08:03 EST, 26 March 2013

Scientists are planning to intentionally smash a spacecraft into a huge asteroid in 2022 to see inside the rock.

The European-led Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission (AIDA) will launch in 2019.

It will send two spacecraft — one built by US scientists and the other by the European Space Agency — on a three-year voyage to the asteroid Didymos at a cost of around £225million.

The European-led Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission (AIDA) will launch in 2019. It will send two spacecraft on a three-year voyage to the asteroid Didymos

The European-led Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission (AIDA) will launch in 2019. It will send two spacecraft on a three-year voyage to the asteroid Didymos

The asteroid has been selected for the mission because it has 'no chance of hitting the earth' making it perfect for this type of fact-finding missions.

Speaking at the 44th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, experts explained Didymos is actually a binary asteroid system.

It consists of two separate space rocks - the largest measuring 2,625 feet (800 metres) across, and the smaller around 490 feet (150 m) - which are bound together by gravity.

The AIDA Didymos mission will be carried out to give scientists a groundbreaking first look at a binary space rock system and hopefully reveal ways that dangerous asteroids which pose a possible risk to the earth can be deflected.

The European Space Agency is building the second AIDA spacecraft - the Asteroid Impact Monitor (or AIM) - which will observe the impact and collect data to properly understand the impact

The European Space Agency is building the second AIDA spacecraft - the Asteroid Impact Monitor (or AIM) - which will observe the impact and collect data to properly understand the impact

AIDA scientist have timed the 2022 mission to coincide with a 'close approach' by the Didymos asteroids -  meaning it will be about 6.8 million miles (11 million km) from the Earth,.

 

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Andy Rivkins, of the Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland is working on the U.S. arms of the AIDA project.

He and his colleagues are building DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), one of the two spacecraft  which will be involved in the mission.

It will be launched into the smaller Didymos asteroid while travelling at 14,000 mph (22,530 km/h).

The exact composition of the Didymos asteroids is not yet known, but scientists hope once the spacecraft impacts, they will be able to measure how much the asteroid's orbit is affected and ascertain its surface composition.

Rivkin told the Huffington Post it will create a crater during impact which will hopefully send the space rock off course - but just by a few millimetres.

The European Space Agency is building the second AIDA spacecraft - the Asteroid Impact Monitor (or AIM) - which will observe the impact and collect data to properly understand the impact. 

If the mission is successful, it could help inform space agencies around the world how to deflect larger, more threatening asteroid that could pose a threat to Earth, Rivkin added.

The AIDA mission's AIM space craft is expected to cost about £127m ($194 m), while the DART spacecraft is slated to cost about £98million, mission officials said.