this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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Planetary defense test deflected an asteroid but unleashed a boulder swarm::A UCLA-led study of NASA’s DART mission determined that the strategy presents previously unanticipated risks.

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[–] Madrigal@lemmy.world 39 points 2 years ago

So the thing that was meant to be a learning experience turned out to be a learning experience?

[–] Elephant0991@lemmy.bleh.au 23 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Somehow, I found the lead scientist's statement and the associated news to be click-baiting. Right, you crash something into a composite rock, and expect no ejecta from it. That's pretty freaking believable. That's like, the most basic physics you can expect from it. This is just to grab your attention so we can get more funding (which they may deserve, even if this is irritating), folks.

[–] Loulou@lemmy.mindoki.com 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wasn't it boulders like laying around on the asteroid? Held there by microgravity, and thus knocked in all directions at the impact?

I mean debris from the impact, yes, "boulders" laying around, no I didn't expect that :-)

[–] Elephant0991@lemmy.bleh.au 5 points 2 years ago

OK. Then. I guess the summary would be like, the asteroid was more loose than we though, and we had no idea how the boulders got ejected from the surface because our impact.

[–] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 22 points 2 years ago

Totally totally totally unanticipated that one. Like every discussion about asteroid defence ever anticipated exactly this kind of scenario.

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago

Unanticipated? I'm sure I can pull out a very serious and scientific simulation that predicted this exact event from 1979. It's called Asteroids I think.

[–] freecandy@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Pretty cool they were able to measure the change in velocity of an object 6 million miles away with millmeter/second resolution. Not cool that it only slowed down a few mm/second though

[–] Thorndike@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Actually, a few mm/sec is quite a lot. That could easily be more than enough to deflect an asteroid from hitting earth. That few mm/sec will accumulate over the time it takes the asteroid to travel six million miles.

[–] freecandy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Well you would need the vector to predict that not just the speed (which they likely have, didn't see it in the article), but pretty cool nonetheless

[–] Skyrmir@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Sounds like the gravity tug or thruster methods might end up being the better solution.

[–] gagewhylds@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Was no one involved alive in 1998? We had two movies about this.

[–] GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

No one remembers deep impact