While this is off-topic, it is worthwhile to know that we can hit an asteroid and change its direction. A decade or so ago, this was only a dream, but here we are. Add AI to the mix, and the future for all you young folks out there will be amazing, so amazing. I wish I were here to enjoy. Who know maybe they will come up with a longevity pill soon. Just joking, but who knows? All IMO.
“In a feat of cosmic engineering not unlike the plot of the 1998 film “Armageddon” closer to reality, NASA scientists have announced that a 2022 mission aimed at steering a giant rock in space did more than just dent the asteroid it targeted — it actually altered the entire system’s path around the sun.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which saw a spacecraft the size of a vending machine intentionally slam into the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, marks the first time humanity has ever shifted the orbital period of a celestial body in our solar system.
While pop culture has long been obsessed with asteroids and other “space rocks” threatening civilization — from the frantic oil drillers of 1998’s “Armageddon” to the cynical satire of “Don’t Look Up” — NASA’s latest findings prove that planetary defense is no longer just a Hollywood trope.
“This is a tiny change to the orbit, but given enough time, even a tiny change can grow to a significant deflection,” the lead scientist for solar system small bodies at NASA Headquarters, Thomas Statler, said in a statement.
According to the study published last week in Science Advances, the impact shortened the 770-day journey of the Dimorphos-Didymos binary system around the sun by a fraction of a second. Though 0.15 seconds seems negligible on a human timescale, the physics involved are massive. The crash ejected so much rocky debris that it created a “recoil” effect, doubling the punch of the spacecraft alone.
Researchers calculated that the system’s orbital speed changed by about 1.7 inches per hour. In the high-stakes vacuum of space, those few inches can be the difference between a direct hit and a “near miss” for large objects hurtling toward the Earth.”