See the link to news about the DART spacecraft that will soon slam into an asteroid. The idea is to give an asteroid a tiny nudge while it is far away from Earth, thereby making it change its orbit just a tiny bit.
www.foxweather.com
This is just a test. The asteroid in question poses no danger to Earth.
It seems to me that a test like this is just to prove that the hardware works. Simple Newtonian physics (and geometry) tells us that, if an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, but it is very far away, you only need to nudge it a tiny bit, make it change speed or course, or both, just a tiny bit, and it will miss Earth.
The challenge is identifying near Earth asteroids that are still far away, long enough in advance. Then you have time to send a billiard ball to the asteroid and knock it just a bit off course.
Money and resources should first be spent on the technology to identify and predict all of the asteroids that are big enough to catastrophically whack us.
NASA spacecraft set to intentionally crash into an asteroid to help save Earth
NASA will use a spacecraft later this month to test a planetary-defense method that could one day save Earth.
www.foxweather.com
This is just a test. The asteroid in question poses no danger to Earth.
It seems to me that a test like this is just to prove that the hardware works. Simple Newtonian physics (and geometry) tells us that, if an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, but it is very far away, you only need to nudge it a tiny bit, make it change speed or course, or both, just a tiny bit, and it will miss Earth.
The challenge is identifying near Earth asteroids that are still far away, long enough in advance. Then you have time to send a billiard ball to the asteroid and knock it just a bit off course.
Money and resources should first be spent on the technology to identify and predict all of the asteroids that are big enough to catastrophically whack us.
