my only issue with DART

Jim K said:
When we went to yellowstone, the kids were freaking out about it being a volcano. I explained to them that if it was going to blow up, we'd be better off if it happened while we were there. I'm not sure that really helped though :dunno:
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I don't think your kids are old enough to appreciate dark humor
 
Brad W said:
Also all this talk about seeing if we can move it, it ill "teach us" how, etc....
Isn't it basic physics that can be calculated...estimated mass of the asteroid, known kinetic energy applied = change of direction or speed.
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There are unknowns related to the composition of the asteroid and how much energy is dissipated from ejecta flying off in different directions.
 
DART: Nice impact etc but cannot find the end result online today.

Will it take a while to make measurements on the asteroid's potential change in direction?
 
An asteroid did in the dinosaurs. Lots have landed throughout history, some have caused some real damage. Being able to deflect one is a pretty smart thing to do. And now we know we can do it. Money well spent in the book of Steingar. If it ever gets used in the real the guys at mission control are going to be really chuffed, having saved Earth and all.
 
Is there any difficulty in spotting asteroids that are a threat?
Thinking I heard they often can't see them til 'it's too late'?
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Send it to Mars.
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Gee, I'm no planetologist but I'm wondering how you would get enough O2 in that crater, if the planet is all CO2? Couldn't be a pleasant death if your oxygen mask suddenly decided it was not up to the task.
Even if you could find a way to 'direct multiple asteroids into the same crater' to make a 25km deep hole.
 
back to my original point….if you’re gonna spend a gazillion dollars on this project, why not spend a coupl’a more bucks for some explosions? give the people what they want!!!!
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Is there any difficulty in spotting asteroids that are a threat?
Thinking I heard they often can't see them til 'it's too late'?
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I heard today that for the next hundred years NASA doesn’t show any asteroids that are a threat to Earth. Apparently they can see them pretty far out.
 
Velocity173 said:
I heard today that for the next hundred years NASA doesn’t show any asteroids that are a threat to Earth. Apparently they can see them pretty far out.
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Mxfarm said:
stay tuned next week…
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True for asteroids in the main asteroid belt. But there are a lot more farther out that have never been seen, and occasionally one passes through the inner system.
 
wasn't there one just a few years ago that passed pretty close but they didn't see it till it was close? I'm pretty sure I remember that...but then my wife really likes to watch those cheesy end of the world disaster flix.... man I hate those things.... maybe i'm remembering something that never happened
 
There was a cubesat in attendance when DART did its thing. We should get some more close up photos if the cubesat worked, though I think they may take some time to get here.
 
steingar said:
There was a cubesat in attendance when DART did its thing. We should get some more close up photos if the cubesat worked, though I think they may take some time to get here.
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The first couple images from the cubesat are in the video linked above. Don't show much beyond the ground based images show... But the cubesat is working, I guess we just need to wait until it catches up with the asteroid.
 
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