NASA Going on Mission to Try Out New Defense Strategy From Killer Asteroids

[Road Runner]

Although, I sort of fail to see how that will solve anything. If an asteroid comes barreling down towards the earth they're just going to ram a spaceship into it?

NASA spacecraft will slam into asteroid in first planetary-defence test

The DART mission has launched. Next up, it will try out a manoeuvre that could one day deflect killer asteroids from Earth.

www.nature.com

 

[Moonglow]

yes, they are trying out a law of physics from Newton.

 

[daveman]

This is cool.

 

[White 6]

yes, they are trying out a law of physics from Newton.

Yep. The tiniest deflection far enough out and it might miss us by mile. My question becomes if asteroid deflected by this experiment that was not going to hit us this time anyway, would the deflection actually line us up right for a direct hit on the next orbital pass a couple of years down the road. Hope those math geniuses know what they are doing when they play inter-solar system billiards. I suspect it's not as simple as that ancient Asteroids game, still on my pc for the grandkids.

 

[daveman]

Yep. The tiniest deflection far enough out and it might miss us by mile. My question becomes if asteroid deflected by this experiment that was not going to hit us this time anyway, would the deflection actually line us up right for a direct hit on the next orbital pass a couple of years down the road. Hope those math geniuses know what they are doing when they play inter-solar system billiards. I suspect it's not as simple as that ancient Asteroids game, still on my pc for the grandkids.

Orbital mechanics really is a "if a butterfly flapped its wings in China" kinda thing.

 

[Unkotare]

Orbital mechanics really is a "if a butterfly flapped its wings in China" kinda thing.

Brazil

 

[White 6]

Orbital mechanics really is a "if a butterfly flapped its wings in China" kinda thing.

More like billiards without really know how hard and reactive the Q-ball is going to be, plus gravity of sun and planets through an elliptical orbit. Amazes me how well they can figure space probes slingshotting around planets, and that is with knowing exact mass, speeds and applied or gravity induced accelerations. Obviously the math exists, but I sure don't know how to do it, so I am reasonably impressed.

 

[daveman]

Brazil

I'd always heard China. Looking it up, however, you're right.

According to Lorenz, when he failed to provide a title for a talk he was to present at the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1972, Philip Merrilees concocted Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? as a title.

 

[daveman]

More like billiards without really know how hard and reactive the Q-ball is going to be, plus gravity of sun and planets through an elliptical orbit. Amazes me how well they can figure space probes slingshotting around planets, and that is with knowing exact mass, speeds and applied or gravity induced accelerations. Obviously the math exists, but I sure don't know how to do it, so I am reasonably impressed.

Same same. Wiki has an animation of Rosetta's flight to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It's insane.

 

[james bond]

The other solution (which I am looking at) is to find another habitable planet if this one fails. The answer is they are too far, so it's better to protect and make do with this one.