DART Probe

[ysabetwordsmith]

NASA has finally gotten around to a concrete step toward the Umbrella: launching a satellite to crash into an asteroid with the intent of changing its orbit.  This is a great way to deflect Earth-threatening objects, if applied at long distance.  \o/

Comments

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Thankfully, NASA has already figured all this out, and that why DART was launched. John Q public and the various congress-critters are still catching up, and Hollywood has a lot to answer for, but the people actually defending the planet are on the ball.<<

That would be more reassuring if NASA had more money and decision-making power. Politicians tend to be stupid, and they're the ones setting agendas and budgets.

>> Which is one of the reasons why Arecibo II will end up being built... it was the only deep space radio telescope that could also act as a deep space radar, and gave us a much wider window of detection.<<

I hope so. We urgently need that.