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Don Quijote concept   The key moment of the Don Quijote mission: the Impactor spacecraft (Hidalgo) smashes into the asteroid while observed, from a safe distance, by the Orbiter spacecraft (Sancho) Impactor spacecraft  The moments before impact... The Impactor spacecraft (Hidalgo) heads towards the target asteroid. Orbiter spacecraft  The Don Quijote mission under study is based on two phases. In the first phase a spacecraft (Sanchez) would rendezvous with an asteroid and go into orbit around it, monitoring it for several months. In the second phase another spacecraft would slam into the asteroid, while the first spacecraft watches, looking for any changes in the asteroid's trajectory. If it becomes a reality, Don Quijote would launch sometime early in the next decade.   |