NASA To Test Smash A Spacecraft Into An Asteroid

WhatInThe said:
NASA is going to test smash a robot controlled spacecraft into an asteroid to see if can be deflected. This is very expensive single test, 330 MILLION dollars worth. The craft will be traveling at 4 miles per second when it hits it.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...into-asteroid-dart-dimorphos-collision-course

Wasn't this a movie?
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Popular theme, seven movies(maybe more)....https://www.space.com/37351-7-great-asteroid-movies.html
 

Here is a link to the details of the mission. The asteroid is almost a half a mile in diameter. There is a real risk that some day something like this could be on a collision course with us. That would be VERY bad. The only way we can know how to prevent this is to do experiments like this. There may come a time when the money will be considered well spent. The Artemis program to put a few people on the moon is going to cost something like 93 billion dollars. What are we going to learn from that? A manned mission to mars would dwarf that amount. What's that going to buy us?

Humans evolved to survive on Earth. With the technology we now have, there is no real reason to send them into space. We can explore just fine using disposable machines. Sending people is just showing off.
 
Grampa Don said:
Here is a link to the details of the mission. The asteroid is almost a half a mile in diameter. There is a real risk that some day something like this could be on a collision course with us. That would be VERY bad. The only way we can know how to prevent this is to do experiments like this. There may come a time when the money will be considered well spent.
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Perhaps, but I am skeptical. Something like this should be of as much interest to everyone on earth. I read the article at your link and while there is a long list of "DART Partners & Collaborators" all appear to me to be US agencies and contractors who stand to benefit financially. Nothing international.

If this did make sense the right way to do it would be an international effort, with international funding.
 
Alligatorob said:
Perhaps, but I am skeptical. Something like this should be of as much interest to everyone on earth. I read the article at your link and while there is a long list of "DART Partners & Collaborators" all appear to me to be US agencies and contractors who stand to benefit financially. Nothing international.

If this did make sense the right way to do it would be an international effort, with international funding.
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If you go further down the page, you'll see that the European Space Agency and an international group called AIDA are also involved.

Most space probes serve only one purpose, they satisfy our curiosity; Is there life on Mars? What is Pluto like? How did the Universe evolve? This is one of the few missions that actually has a practical value. Can we deflect an asteroid?
 
65 million years ago, a large asteroid hit the Yucatan peninsula, and the ensuing damage to the planet wiped out the dinosaurs, and most other species. Were that to occur again, we would all be wiped out. If a technology could be developed that could "alter" the path of any large space debris, it might be worth the costs.
 
carouselsilver said:
I agree. Why destroy things just because we can?
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It is not about destroying things. It is a test to see what might be required if/when a dangerous asteroid is threatening earth.
It's not a matter of IF an asteroid will eventually hit earth, it's a matter of WHEN.
You may recall that a few years back an asteroid exploded over Russia. It had greater destructive power than the atom bomb which destroyed Hiroshima.
 
Just as long as they don't change its trajectory so that it collides with earth. That would be a bummer.
 
I wonder if they have calculated the trajectory of the asteroid after they bump it well enough to make sure it does not hit any other objects in our solar system or in another solar system. I mean if it hits a planet that is inhabited it could cause an intergalactic incident. It is said any action causes a reaction. Seriously though I do wonder if they thought a head that far?
 
oldpop said:
I wonder if they have calculated the trajectory of the asteroid after they bump it well enough to make sure it does not hit any other objects in our solar system or in another solar system. I mean if it hits a planet that is inhabited it could cause an intergalactic incident. It is said any action causes a reaction. Seriously though I do wonder if they thought a head that far?
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Here is what NASA says:

The DART demonstration has been carefully designed. Didymos's orbit does not intersect Earth's at any point in current predictions, and the impulse of energy that DART delivers to Dimorphos is low and cannot disrupt the asteroid.

DART is a spacecraft designed to impact an asteroid as a test of technology. DART’s target asteroid is NOT a threat to Earth. This asteroid system is a perfect testing ground to see if intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future.

So, the change in the asteroid's orbit will be very small.
 
The DART spacecraft weighs approximately 1,260 pounds while the asteroid weighs approximately 11,023,113,109 pounds (if it were weighed on earth), so it's going to be like a mosquito slamming into your head, expecting to change its trajectory.

I say this is a complete waste of money. We shall find out on the 26th.
 
The asteroid they are going to hit is part of a binary system, a little one orbiting a big one. They are aiming at the little one.

Per NASA:

The DART spacecraft will impact Dimorphos nearly head-on, shortening the time it takes the small asteroid moonlet to orbit Didymos by several minutes.

This is measurable by earth based telescopes. Sure, it could fail. That's why it's called a test. The important thing is what we can learn from it. Of course, if it were really a threat we would have to send something much bigger.

If you want an example of a waste of money, look at Artemis.
 
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