4 ms·
Dart mission successfully shifted its target’s orbit
- walrus01 4y agoIt's my understanding that the 160m size chunk of stuff in question has been described as a "rubble pile". Probably not stuck together very well. What are the theories of what would happen if you hit such a thing, in a scenario where you needed to deflect it, with a high velocity 9000 kg mass (vs the much smaller and low cost DART), and instead of altering its orbit it broke up into a bunch of medium sized chunks?
- bearmode 4y agoA bunch of medium-sized chunks are far less likely to make it to ground, and less likely to do as much damage. Still a significantly better outcome.