At last an effort is being made to see if we really can divert the path of a dangerous asteroid.

 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43024/nasa-is-about-launch-a-planetary-defenses-mission-to-see-if-it-can-change-an-asteroids-path

 

"NASA is about to try to use a kinetic impactor to alter the motion of an asteroid in space in a test that sounds like it was ripped straight from a Hollywood blockbuster disaster flick. The objective is to demonstrate the feasibility of using an interceptor of sorts to deflect future asteroids that might find themselves on collision courses with Earth"

Edited November 6, 20214 yr by martin-w

A rail gun would be a better choice of destructive projectile. Two kilogram slug of depleted uranium accelerated to .2c should do the trick! 🤪

Or just paint half of it white. Lots of ideas have been suggested. Ideally we want to give it just a little nudge. 

Although it has been suggested recently that hitting an asteroid with a nuke might not be a bad idea at all, if done early enough so the debris spreads out and mostly misses us.

Edited November 7, 20214 yr by martin-w