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Dealing with threatening space rocks

20 September 2007

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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)

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

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People in southern Peru gaze at a crater made apparently by a meteorite 17 September 2007 in the department of Puno. Villagers were struck by a mysterious illness after the meteorite crashed to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday. Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia. Residents complained of headaches and vomiting.

Credits: AFP PHOTO/ANDINA/HO

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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.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

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Peru meteorite strike

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Asteroids: treasures of the past and a threat to the future ESA selects targets for asteroid-deflecting mission Don Quijote

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