HomeAstronomyTiny probe could measure asteroid gravity in a space 1st

Tiny probe could measure asteroid gravity in a space 1st

The European Space Agency (ESA) wants to land a tiny mobile phone-sized satellite on an asteroid to measure its gravity.

ESA has completed vacuum and vibration tests for its Gravimeter for Small Solar System Objects (GRASS) asteroid probe. GRASS is designed to measure surface gravity on the Dimorphos asteroid, which NASA’s DART spacecraft collided with as a part of its mission last year. Dimorphos has a diameter of about 525 feet (160 meters), which is roughly the size of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As buildings go, the VAB is huge. It’s one of the largest in the world, by area. As planetary bodies go, Dimorphos is not so huge. In fact, it is the smallest body in the solar system ever visited by a human spacecraft. 

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