<
https://theconversation.com/new-results-from-nasas-dart-planetary-defence-mission-confirm-we-could-deflect-deadly-asteroids-200835>
"What would we do if we spotted a hazardous asteroid on a collision course with
Earth? Could we deflect it safely to prevent the impact?
Last year, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission tried to find
out whether a “kinetic impactor” could do the job: smashing a 600kg spacecraft
the size of a fridge into an asteroid the size of an Aussie Rules football
field.
Early results from this first real-world test of our potential planetary
defence systems looked promising. However, it’s only now that the first
scientific results are being published: five papers in Nature have recreated
the impact, and analysed how it changed the asteroid’s momentum and orbit,
while two studies investigate the debris knocked off by the impact.
The conclusion: “kinetic impactor technology is a viable technique to
potentially defend Earth if necessary”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
