A UCLA-led study of NASA’s DART mission determined that the strategy presents previously unanticipated risks.
  • Cybrpwca@beehaw.org
    0·
    1 year ago

    Good news: smaller pieces burn up much easier in the atmosphere, so in the case of an actual asteroid deflection it’s still a net gain.

    Bad news: more potential navigation hazards.

    I think that’s a fair trade.

    • FaceDeer@kbin.social
      1·
      1 year ago

      Also, dispersing the boulders early enough means that most of them would miss Earth anyway.

      I wouldn’t really consider them navigation hazards, space is really big and boulders are really small. You’d have to aim a probe really precisely at one in order to hit it.