3 ms·
> Once you have better lead time on an asteroid, and catch it coming rather than going, it's easier to intercept. This will lead to a very high speed impact (i
by exDM69 9y ago
> Once you have better lead time on an asteroid, and catch it coming rather than going, it's easier to intercept.
This will lead to a very high speed impact (in the order of 60 km/s) or more likely a high speed miss. Or require years of lead time to get the interceptor there after one orbit around the sun.
A high speed impact might still be interesting if there are enough scientific instruments to look at the debris. However, that needs a very very precise aim.
A much easier scenario is to catch it on the outbound leg like the paper suggests.
- CydeWeys 9y agoDetect it coming rather than going, not impact it head-on. The more lead time you have the better (lower dv) an intercept course you can undertake.
- exDM69 9y agoOh that makes sense. Although this one was detected while still incoming towards perihelion (right?), but not by much. Spotting one of these a few years in advance is the dream of many astronomers.
- CydeWeys 9y agoNo, this one was detected well after perihelion, and even after its closest approach to the Earth too (so if it'd been on a collision course we wouldn't have detected it in time even). See here: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/interstellar/interstellar_orbit_sm.jpg http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/interstellar/i...