Well NASA pulled it off.
They altered the path of an asteroid!
It's the stuff of SciFi come true. Think of the movies Armageddon or Meteor. It's now reality!
I'm amazed by this particular escapade. Like hitting a marble with a pin from across the room.
The probe was called DART. The asteroid Dimorphos. DART is no more. Dimorphos is on a different orbit. Howzat!
DART would make a superb toy, along with a mock asteroid on a card. Something like a Tri-ang SpaceX toy.
Further smiles came when Google sent a probe 'into' my mobile, where it exploded and tilted the screen!
I'm clearly not the only one excited by DART. Are you too?
Image: NASA
It's an achievement for sure (though I'm not sure if we know for certain that it's effective yet). Great that the onboard systems can manage this, it is encouraging for other operations so far from Earth that radio control isn't an option (basically, most places!)
ReplyDeleteRelieved that someone is working on this- at least one disaster being tackled...
ReplyDeleteYes Andy, at least NASA can actually say that it is rocket science!
DeleteYep, the dinosaurs really dropped the ball on that one. Just happily munching leaves, or each other with no thought for planetary defence.
ReplyDeleteha ha, that made me chuckle Kev!
ReplyDeleteAs for the list of comet movies I can add Greenland.
ReplyDelete