NASA Spends $325 Million On 'Bug Hitting Semi Windshield' Test To 'Save Earth'

[westwall]

What is it orbiting? And how long is the orbital period that 30 minutes is a percentage of? And what does changing its orbit tell us about an asteroid bearing down on the Earth? We need to DEFLECT asteroids--- speeding them up or slowing them down can only help by changing the arrival time with the Earth's orbit to a time before or after the Earth crosses it to avoid a collision, but could still result in it hitting the Earth at some future point.

Plus impactors run the risk of fracturing the rock into several big pieces then we are screwed. I'd much rather see us send a rocket engine to an asteroid, softly land on it, then fire a sustained burn to keep pushing the rock until it is deflected past a point where it can never harm the Earth; preferably directing it into the SUN.

It is orbiting a larger asteroid. This was a simplistic test. A better one would be to land a rocket engine and use that to change the orbit. That is controllable. Quick math tells me the orbital period was changed by .955 percent. The test tells us we can alter the orbit of an incoming asteroid. If the asteroid has a chance to impact Earth again in the future, it can again be moved.

Multiple large asteroids are far better for the planet, than a single huge one. A single huge one will impact. Large ones will not for the most part. If they do impact the damage they cause will be significantly less.

A huge one will end civilization............................................. at best.

 

[easyt65]

What is true is that if our leaders were like you, we wouldn't even have attempted it. Is that right? So we'd be at square one. Square zero. Now we are at least to square 1. Just keep laughing in your basement online here at USMB and let the big boys do big boy work.

Our Democrat leaders are NOT like me ... and look how f*ed up the country is due to their hate, division, and failed policies and agendas.

I will concede the mission was important; however, Biden and Democrats have done their best to destroy this country, and after 'sailing the ship' past the $31 TRILLION DOLLAR Deficit mark with out of control spending and in tve midst of a horrific economy and Bidenflation, I would argue at this moment tgeir are far greater threats to focus on that could destroy us sooner than an asteroid strike ... like Biden's economy collapse or his dragging us into a nuclear WWIII.

 

[toobfreak]

Quick math tells me the orbital period was changed by .955 percent.

Thanks West. That's not too bad. It's enough to get us an appreciable deflection saving the planet IF we can detect and get to any destructive NEO early enough.

Multiple large asteroids are far better for the planet, than a single huge one.

Maybe so, if some of the pieces miss the Earth altogether or spread out enough rather than all hitting close to each other. We really don't want ANYTHING hitting us, certainly nothing bigger than a couple hundred feet across.

A good investment for our tax dollars. Now we need to keep working on better early detection, especially in detecting stuff coming at us from the Sunside, combined with bigger and stronger anti-asteroid rockets or whatever able to deal with bigger and closer threats with less time.

Might be worthwhile to have a fleet of asteroid deflectors out is space or on the Moon able to be launched as needed, but then, this can only be realized if humanity can outgrow its petty bickering and unite to start combining resources rather than spending everything on war.

 

[SeaMajor7]

This relatively low-cost mission was a great achievement and should no way be political.
REAL science has demonstrated that a kinetic force can alter a body in motion that might obliterate life on Earth.....again.
This is good news.

 

[Flash]

That's total BS.

Hardware store bolts are soft grade 2 to 5.

Automotive bolts are hardened grade 6 to 8.

Commercial airline bolts are grade 8+, drilled for SS safety wires to secure them, stamped certified & also cost a hundred + dollars each & they are private companies.

Nasa rocket bolts are pushed beyond aircraft bolts to their extreme limits on launch & extreme cold of space. Every piece of the rocket must be designed as light & strong as possible because the best we can achieve is 4% payload to rocket weight ratio. So they must be tested & certified to those extreme limits. Do you want to see a $325 million rocket fail because of a cheap bolt?

I never saw an aircraft bolt at a hardware store!
View attachment 702098

It is the same for components used in the nuclear weapons and nuclear power industries.

They have to be certified.

 

[Lesh]

Ten minutes of arc? Do you know by what percentage that subtends a degree of angle?

What I know is that they moved the asteroid 3 times further than they planned to

 

[toobfreak]

What I know is that they moved the asteroid 3 times further than they planned to

They didn't move it anywhere, apparently, they just imparted enough kinetic energy into it to affect its orbital velocity for a time, which it will now either recover from whatever it orbits or eventually fall into it.

 

[westwall]

They didn't move it anywhere, apparently, they just imparted enough kinetic energy into it to affect its orbital velocity for a time, which it will now either recover from whatever it orbits or eventually fall into it.

It will probably be a month or so before the orbit is completely stabilized, but once it is, it will not change until something else hits it.

Orbital mechanics are extremely complex, even with a relatively small binary system as this is.

 

[toobfreak]

Orbital mechanics are extremely complex, even with a relatively small binary system as this is.

Sure. Since the two bodies are gravitationally bound together, I imagine there would be a lot of "ringing" in the system as the change in energy of the moon asteroid is exchanged back and forth until it all evens out.

 

[Lesh]

Sure. Since the two bodies are gravitationally bound together, I imagine there would be a lot of "ringing" in the system as the change in energy of the moon asteroid is exchanged back and forth until it all evens out.

Not all asteroids are like this one. Many are solo. The point of this was to see if they could alter the course of one and they did...much more than they hoped for

 

[sealybobo]

View attachment 708717

Our Democrat leaders are NOT like me ... and look how f*ed up the country is due to their hate, division, and failed policies and agendas.

I will concede the mission was important; however, Biden and Democrats have done their best to destroy this country, and after 'sailing the ship' past the $31 TRILLION DOLLAR Deficit mark with out of control spending and in tve midst of a horrific economy and Bidenflation, I would argue at this moment tgeir are far greater threats to focus on that could destroy us sooner than an asteroid strike ... like Biden's economy collapse or his dragging us into a nuclear WWIII.

Thank you for conceding the mission was important. That was cool of you. We may not agree politically but at least you aren't so one sided you'll argue to the death that something like this isn't important to humanity, just because it's happening under a Biden regime.

 

[toobfreak]

Not all asteroids are like this one. Many are solo. The point of this was to see if they could alter the course of one and they did...much more than they hoped for

That is all good. The question is was it enough to save the Earth, and by how much for an asteroid how big and far away?

Then that leaves the question of what about asteroids that are bigger or not detected until closer because they came at us from the direction of the Sun, etc? Then there is the matter of composition. Asteroids vary greatly in density and composition. Not all asteroids will react the same way to the same degree to the same amount of force, so this is FAR from resolved, but it is a beginning. In this case, they may have only gotten the better results from what they expected only because they guessed wrong about the composition.

 

[Lesh]

That is all good. The question is was it enough to save the Earth, and by how much for an asteroid how big and far away?

Then that leaves the question of what about asteroids that are bigger or not detected until closer because they came at us from the direction of the Sun, etc? Then there is the matter of composition. Asteroids vary greatly in density and composition. Not all asteroids will react the same way to the same degree to the same amount of force, so this is FAR from resolved, but it is a beginning. In this case, they may have only gotten the better results from what they expected only because they guessed wrong about the composition.

No one said it was completely resolved.

This shows that it is possible

 

[toobfreak]

This shows that it is possible

No. It just shows that we can hit and affect an asteroid when we get to choose which one under ideal circumstances and are under no time constraints.

Not that this isn't a good start.

Next step once all the data is gathered and analyzed is to figure out based on that effort how big and how close of an asteroid does that show we can deal with?

It might only allow us to deflect an asteroid no bigger than a city block moving 15,000 mph towards us and is still a year away from hitting us.

 

[miketx]

Congrats to NASA - they successfully carried out anexpetiment in which they hit a football stadium-sized asteroid traveling 14,000 mph with a vending machine-sized spacecraft 'in the ‘world’s first planetary defense test.’

It was pretty much like a bug hitting a semi truck's windshield.

NASA will spend the next few weeks trying to determine if the impact caused any shift in the asteroids trajectory.

(When a bug hits the windshield of a semi, does the bug alter the truck's trajectory / heading? THIS observation cost nothing - NASA's cost us, in the middle of massive inflation - $325 million.)

NASA's Vending Machine-Sized Spacecraft Crashes into Football Stadium-Size Asteroid in the World’s First Planetary Defense Test (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft

Earth’s ability to withstand an asteroid strike or comet hazard was put to the test for the first time as a NASA spacecraft collided with a non-hazardous asteroid in the ‘world’s first planetary defense test.’ “This is only a test – of planetary defense.

www.thegatewaypundit.com

Yet they can't get their moon rocket off the pad!

 

[Lesh]

No. It just shows that we can hit and affect an asteroid when we get to choose which one under ideal circumstances and are under no time constraints.

OK and? Helluva first step

Not that this isn't a good start.

The fuck it's not. Where ELSE would you start?

Next step once all the data is gathered and analyzed is to figure out based on that effort how big and how close of an asteroid does that show we can deal with?

No shit

It might only allow us to deflect an asteroid no bigger than a city block moving 15,000 mph towards us and is still a year away from hitting us.

So you would do nothing based on "might"

 

[BackAgain]

It was a magnificent test and a wonderful result!

NASA Successfully Altered an Asteroid’s Orbit — Smithsonian Magazine

The agency's DART mission exceeded expectations, marking the first time humans have changed the trajectory of a celestial body

apple.news

 

[KissMy]

No, he won't. I have many friends who work for airlines, hell a good friend owns an airliner servicing company. If a mechanic DOESN'T report an airworthiness issue he WILL get fired.

Period.

Where do you come up with this bullshit.

You are clueless

 

[whitehall]

If they play their cars right they could harvest the bugs to feed the world.

 

[KissMy]

Congrats to NASA - they successfully carried out anexpetiment in which they hit a football stadium-sized asteroid traveling 14,000 mph with a vending machine-sized spacecraft 'in the ‘world’s first planetary defense test.’

It was pretty much like a bug hitting a semi truck's windshield.

NASA will spend the next few weeks trying to determine if the impact caused any shift in the asteroids trajectory.

(When a bug hits the windshield of a semi, does the bug alter the truck's trajectory / heading? THIS observation cost nothing - NASA's cost us, in the middle of massive inflation - $325 million.)

NASA's Vending Machine-Sized Spacecraft Crashes into Football Stadium-Size Asteroid in the World’s First Planetary Defense Test (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft

Earth’s ability to withstand an asteroid strike or comet hazard was put to the test for the first time as a NASA spacecraft collided with a non-hazardous asteroid in the ‘world’s first planetary defense test.’ “This is only a test – of planetary defense.

www.thegatewaypundit.com

You were wrong again as you always are. The DART mission successfully changed the motion of an asteroid more than expected.