NASA announced that its new spacecraft, named NEA Scout, has completed all required tests and has been safely tucked inside the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2021
NEA Scout is one of several payloads that will hitch a ride on Artemis I, which is expected to be launched in November.
Near-Earth Asteroid Scout, or NEA Scout, is a small spacecraft, about the size of a big shoebox.
Its main mission is to fly by and collect data from a near-Earth asteroid. It will also be America’s first interplanetary mission using a special solar sail propulsion.
The spacecraft will take about two years to cruise to the asteroid and will be about 93 million miles away from Earth during the asteroid encounter.
