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NASA Is Going To Crash a Satellite Into an Asteroid (fortune.com)
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is moving ahead with plans to try out deflection techniques on a passing asteroid to prepare for future, threatening space matter. From a report: The space agency has entered the preliminary design phase for its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). This represents the first trial of what's called the "kinetic impactor technique" of asteroid deflection. Put another way, NASA hopes that by hurling a refrigerator-sized spacecraft at one of the space rocks at a speed roughly nine times that of a bullet, it can knock the asteroid off course and save the Earth. The plan is to launch the first DART satellite at a binary asteroid called Didymos ("Twins"); the twin asteroids are scheduled to pass by earth in 2022 and 2024. (Neither pass poses any threat, according to NASA.) By striking one of the two asteroids, scientists will be able to measure the impact of the collision.
"What," said Trillian in a small quiet voice, "does asteriodcrash mean?"
"It means," said Marvin, "that the probe is going to crash into the asteroid. Asteroid. . . . Crash. It's very simple to understand. What do you expect if you steal Hotblack Desiato's stuntprobe?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
or Unmanned?
So what happens when the test works really well and suddenly that asteroid is knocked into a collision course with earth? What could possibly go wrong? While I would imagine the test isn't enough to cause a major trajectory change, this quote seems like the start of an end of the world movie.
they take out the HBO satellite!
Indeed. I don't quite understand why anyone would assert that doing a public act somehow means you retain your right to anonymity.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
I predict "an equal and opposite reaction"
The plan is to launch the first DART satellite at a binary asteroid called Didymos ("Twins"); the twin asteroids are scheduled to pass by earth in 2022 and 2024. (Neither pass poses any threat, according to NASA, as long as refrigerator sized hard metallic objects are not slamming into the agglomeration of rocks and ice held together with weak gravity ) By striking one of the two asteroids, scientists will be able to measure the impact of the collision and be the first one to hide under the desks, like school children in cold war era, if the deflected asteroids home in on us
Fixed it for NASA.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Couldn't they have announced this on the 4th of July?
Isn't this a fairly straightforward calculation? And given the exact details of this asteroid's spin and other variables aren't the results going to be fairly accurate for just this one asteroid and maybe not extrapolatable to others? I ain't no English jeanus, either.
MAGA
According to NASA "Neither pass poses any threat" - question is will they poses a threat after we hit them with DART? Or will we learn in 2151 that NASA's experiment from 2022 had a cascading effect and one of the Didymos/twins is going to hit earth.
you are hitting a mountain with a ball of tinfoil, it will be ok
I predict "an equal and opposite reaction"
The asteroid will fire a satellite back at us!
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
About this exact scenario. I forget the name but you can probably guess what happened.
Not on accident?
People who don't understand that a refrigerator sized satellite won't blow apart or make large changes to the orbit of a 527 billion kg asteroid.
NASA Is Going To Crash a Satellite Into an Asteroid on Purpose
I mean, accidental hypersonic impacts into things is kind of old hat. ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
FTA: "Neither pass poses any threat, according to NASA." It would be hilarious if that collision will suddenly change the asteroid's path to collide with Earth.
Are they the least bit worried that they put an asteroid on an eventual collision course?
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Dear NASA,
If you ever wish to remain relevant, you had best put someone (a human), on a celestial body, and quick. The Moon is always an option, as is Mars, Venus, etc. But at the current rate things are going, people are focusing a bit too much on...earthly affairs. They are forgetting that there are other worlds out there, and that they are accessible to us; hence, they begin to care too much about what they have here, in front of them. And as such, they are beginning to feel claustrophobic, even when there is plenty of space, both on Earth and elsewhere.
So the break off thing is more of a worry on some asteroids that are loose collections of rubble. Those certainly come apart. This type is more solid; likely will not break apart. If this works, and it changes the orbit to now be a threat - well, it has proved out to work. Now just hit it again.
Has he been shot?
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Wow! You best get on the horn to NASA and share your stunning insight because I'm sure nobody involved in the project realizes the danger.
... causing that rock to change course and unexpectedly alter the trajectory of another rock or rocks either by gravity or impact which finally brings that killer rock we're all worried about crashing down on our heads here on Earth. I hope they made enough calculations for what it will effect far out in to the future. I think it's good they're testing stuff like this but they should be REALLY careful doing it.
...here comes Frigidaire!
Am I the only one that was reminded of the satellite crashing into the mother ship at the beginning of Independence Day?
Just sayin
By definition, the objects needs to be in orbit for it to be a satellite.
These are spacecrafts, impactors, whatever, but not satellites.
But its common knowledge that these asteroids are being sent by the Arachnids.
You know its true, we gotta send our soldiers to Klendathu
"We thought we were smarter than the Bugs"
"Wow! You best get on the horn to NASA and share your stunning insight because I'm sure nobody involved in the project realizes the danger.", he said is his best "Frasier Crane" voice.
They already did this with a comet. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/deep-impact/
an asteroid into a satellite.
An asteroid that doesn't pose a threat might have its orbit altered enough that it now does pose a threat
Unless you are claiming there will be a huge violation of the conservation of momentum, there is only a limited change in the course when hitting a large mass with a much smaller one not going much faster. It would be pretty easy to tell if in the next several orbits there would be any chance of possible changes to the orbit allowing it to hit Earth or not.
In the very long run after many orbits, prediction of the position becomes difficult due to the chaotic nature of many bodied orbits, but that would also be far enough in the future we couldn't tell if it would hit us or not untouched, and would give plenty of time to change it again if this small test is enough to change it from miss to hit.
Furthermore, it might break off pieces that would pose a threat.
Again, there is conservation of momentum, and conservation of energy. There is only so much velocity change you can make for a bunch of pieces, and they will mostly retain their current momentum as the center of mass of whatever results will be the same if it breaks up or not. Yes, if you managed to get lucky and transfer all of the energy and momentum into a small chunk, you could radically change its velocity... but at that point you're talking about something the same size as the impactor, which would not be a threat to Earth.
...asteroids crash YOUR satellites!
Needed: 1 drilling team willing to crash their spacecraft craft into an asteroid, drill a hole in it, place a nuclear weapon and then kiss their asses goodbye. Send CV and client testimonials to NASA, c/o CraZY Eddie, PO Box 1998, Canaveral, FL
That was much more entertaining the second time I read it, next time put "In my best Frasier Crane voice..." at the beginning instead of at the end.
I said, in my worst Patrick Warburton voice.(see)
What a terrible miscalculation.