This is a conversation with Planetary Astronomer Andy Rivkin. Andy is the co-investigation team lead for NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, being designed, built, and managed by the Applied Physics Lab at John Hopkins University. The DART mission is the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique to change the motion of an asteroid in space. We discuss the current readiness of earths planetary defenses, the physics behind re-directing asteroids, and the DART mission itself.
►View on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/O0cJnYR2M1A
►For more information about Andy's work: https://secwww.jhuapl.edu/SpaceScience/staff/ProfileView/49
►Outside of his research Andy makes his own music, which can be found here: andyrivkin.bandcamp.com
►Thumbnail image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
►Intro footage credit: JHU Applied Physics Laboratory https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Gallery/