Killer Asteroids Beware: DART Mission Finale Shows Spectacular Results
Вставка
- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- After only two weeks astronomers have been able to peer through the dust cloud and measure just how effective the DART mission was at changing the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos. And this is surprising because I had worried the amount of dust in the vicinity would make measuring the photometry with enough precision a lot more difficult, and a small change to the orbital period would be lost in the noise.
However the change in orbital period is so huge that it was possible to pick out the change with ease, the orbital period changed by more than half an hour, from its initial 12 hour duration, this makes the event massively more effective than the minimal expected performance they set to declare success. The asteroids location diverges from its original votive orbit at over 600 meters per day.
This is great news for Humanity
See more of the images and footage from the mission here:
www.nasa.gov/f...
Follow me on Twitter for more updates:
/ djsnm
I have a discord server where I regularly turn up:
/ discord
If you really like what I do you can support me directly through Patreon
/ scottmanley
My professor at University worked on DART. Less than a week after impact he told us our final project was making a control system for the thrusters on DART... Congratulations to everyone involved in making this mission a success and to the science teams who confirmed the results of the impact so quickly!
That's an insanely fun final project. Kinda jealous
Did anyone accomplish this project?
@@davecrupel2817 probably will take them a bit longer. Barely been three weeks. It's a complex control system
Can you provide more details on that control system ? If it was PID or something else ?
But weren't those thrusters destroyed 1 week before you started the project?
I vaguely knew this a couple days after impact. I work at a coffee shop near a location with people working on this. A lady came in with a DART lanyard and I geeked out about it and asked how long until we knew how much we changed the Orbit and she responded with something like, "oh, we already know we changed it a lot, in fact I have a meeting in an hour to go over more details. Knowing exactly how much it changed will take a little longer, but we already know it was a significant change in orbit".
That's amazing.
“Humanity has the the ability to change the destiny of the planet Earth.” Probably the coolest closing line of all time Scott!!
Indeed
*and that means crossing off another task for contacting*
In more than one way.. the earth doesn't care about impacts or literally anything. Life cares about the planet. Wouldn't be surprised if we are the biggest threat to life on the planet. Not even talking about climate change.
@@Dji00 right now even. Just because a conflict between two countries. Life on Earth are getting ever closer to armageddon.
This also implies that we can destroy it ourselves
@@ninizeldav7174 Well, weve had that ability since the dawn of the industrial revolution... and been doing our best to make that happen.
"This was a triumph
I'm making a note here: huge success
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction
Aperture Science
We do what we must because we can"
Love the reference
For the good of all of us, except the ones who are dead
@@anakinjovanus1135 I feel like we can all overlook a bit of overenthusiastic scientific experimentation when it leads to such great tunes.
@@anakinjovanus1135 "But there's no sense crying over every mistake"
"You just keep on trying till you run out of cake."
And the science gets done
Funny to note, "Still Alive" being crazy relevant in more ways than one to characterize the triumph observed here (we are all still alive, and will now -likely- still continue being so!), but also Portal 2's end theme "Want you Gone" also being humorously relevant too; DART is quite gone, as are any other Earth-threatening celestial bodies (can't say Dimorphos and Didymoon because they weren't ever threatening to begin with). I'm gonna have me some cake now!
tell me you've played too much Portal without telling me you've played too much Portal
jokes aside, I think this is a great achievement for mankind. And to hear it's results have surpassed every expectations really does make you optimistic
space SPACE Space. Space. Im in space, SPACE. Im in SPAAAAAACE.
I think it's time to play Portal again...
@@iampixel4086 is it ever NOT a good time?
@@iampixel4086 SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!
The cake is a lie!
Its hard to overstate my satisfaction
Aperture Science
We do what we must because we can
For the good of all of us
Exept the ones that are dead
now there's no sense crying over every mistake
Engineer 1: “Have we ever launched a refrigerator into an asteroid?”
Engineer 2: “No, why?”
Engineer 1: “It’d be a lot cooler if we did.”
😂
I was super excited when this launched, it's great to see it paying off AND to have results surpass expectations
you think that surpassing the expectations by 25x is a good sign and a good result?
@@lukapretegiani3348 yes I want to see space rocks OBLITERATED
@@NautiluStudios NASA don't
@@lukapretegiani3348 This was 27x better than the minimal estimate. The average estimate was probably somewhat higher, making this result maybe 3x or even just 2x better than expected. The way this was phrased in this video leaves it open for massive debates.
@@kindlin My guess is that this tells us we didn't calculate the mass of the object correctly, which is interesting in itself: Why and how?
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of a cure." Applies here, it's so important to find these objects early as energy required to move them goes up logarithmically with time.
Well, that's less problematic than exponentially.
It’s actually a linear relationship, need to double the amount of energy to get the same amount of asteroid movement over 15 years than over 30 years to avoid Earth.
bro. keep it metric.
@@evannibbe9375 That's hyperbolic (inverse of a linear function). In reality the velocity required is inverse to the distance, so the energy is inverse distance squared. So 4x as much energy every 1/2 distance (or time).
So Starlink and the ever more crowded night sky may impede this capacity to find threats
As child I was fascinated about dinosaurs. I recall the moment seeing a picture in a book showing how a meteor was about to strike, wiping out live on earth as it existed. I also recall how I felt at that time… not great.
Now almost 30y later. Watching the news about DART, humming to myself “this is a triumph…” and contemplating what great achievements humans can reach by cooperating. I feel so proud of humankind right now.
it was either them or us, so thank you meteor.
Cooperating? The main reason we're in space is because humans had an arms race between usa and soviets.
Specifically the opposite of cooperation.
Ever wonder how something so impossibly massive could have existed on our Earth? The best land creatures can get today is a little over 12 tons! Muscle, tendon & bone haven't changed.. could they have weighed less??
Humankind: "This is the greatest weapon ever created."
Love your philosophy, Fluffy Bunny ❤
I'm old enough to remember the discovery of the first asteroid moon. I never thought, "Welp, we're going to have to go slap one of those around for sure." lol..
So glad this worked better than expected though. I hope they have more of these planned, on a larger scale.
I'm very happy and proud to have been a part of this project (a small part, but an important one). Congrats to the whole team, they were a great group to work with.
Thanks for keep the memory of The Expanse alive while explaining the complex physics and measurements needed to analyze the results.
You know there's a shitton of expanse books right
It feels like we've entered a spaceflight renaissance in these past few years and I'm glad to see it.
me too, a lot of this is happening as a result of spacex, very grateful for the amount of vison that Elon has for the space launch industry.
There already working on bringing residential and comercial zones into space, I think the first space hotel will be finished in like 2025 or something like that
While things didn't really slow down elsewhere (China has been on the up and up, and Russia has been business as usual-ing), it is definitely great to see the US making giant steps again
It will end, economy is in the tank, 31 trillion debt (about $100,000 per person) We cant afford NASA.
Then we have global warming, space flight has a massive carbon footprint.
I am sure wish we could afford such luxury as space flight, but we simply cant for much more. We is broke, and polluted.
@@appropinquo3236 except for those “you could use a rocket ship as transportation to other countries” ideas lol
I was looking forward to your take on this and you didn’t disappoint. Always so insightful! Thank you
What a very cool closing statement ;
"Now we know that humanity has the ability to change the destiny of the planet Earth" ❗
Very well said mr. Scott ! 😎
Cheers from Iceland 🇮🇸
🌎
Nice portal reference in the thumbnail
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction
Aperture Science
@@AnkushKun We do what we must, because we can...
@@AnkushKun we do what we must because we can
@@eddyjay83 For the good of all of us
In Kerbal Space Program, we do what we must because we can
Amazing result. Didn't expect THAT much of impact (in multiple ways, including 10K km long tail - "we created comet")
@JZ's BFF We would hear a loud BONG!!! and then nothing.
Some people just want to turn everything into a bong.
@JZ's BFF 😂
I just love waiting for the "fly safe Scott version" of any space event. 🥰🥰 The depth and clarity spoken is a great joy to hear. Thank you Scott
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Thanks for the update, Scott!
Splat! I guess this makes "Don't Look Up" movie a fixable scenario?
Scott thank you for putting this together and giving me more info then that long NASA conference in just a few minutes.
I liked that you talked about the calculations from a worst case scenario. After all, it really all about calibrating the models. I'd be curious what their best case and expected scenario modelling looked like and how close they actually got their modelling to the real event.
ive read somewhere that best case was like 10 minutes, but im not sure
This is super cool! I imagine that if we wanted to, we could start launching vehicles of a similar size, and make a system of modular satellites that could group together to move more massive objects, or move them in less time. Sadly, probably not gonna happen. But it’s a nice thought!
Also, love the expanse reference!
It might happen. That would be one of the possible mission profiles considered if the need arose.
We need more seasons from you slow Earthers!
Oye Beltalowda!
I'm not sure that would really be super practical.
Yes a nuclear device would be more efficient, and could be done in a single launch.
“That’s for the pterodactyls, you dusty bastard!”
..Anyone else start singing? AND he likes Underworld?! This man is awesome!!
love the GLaDOS reference! 👍👍👍👍
Wow, it's so impressive to see the tangible result of humanity's impact on these celestial bodies. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Aperture Science:
We do what we must
Because we can
Sorry, I had to.
This was a triumph
I'm making a note here; "Huge success"
Finally the dinosaurs have their revenge
The dinosaurs getting their revenge after a couple million years finally
*"FOR THOSE WHO COME AFTER, IN THE NAME OF THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE, WE BID THEE F### OFF TO ANOTHER ORBIT"*
Really looking forward to Hera in two years. Will be really interesting to see how the crater would evolve in that time, give us an up close look at how time changes it.
Also, Portal reference in the thumbnail, I like it. And now I have the song stuck in my head.
Man I love your videos when you go through an event. Your video about aerocibo dish going down was just amazing!
Growing up I remember the 1990's. One thing I remember was the footage from the Gulf War where there were recordings from cameras of TV guided bombs where you could watch as it approaches and then it cuts out at impact. The series of images from DART were reminiscent of this. Hearing that it impacted 17m from the target point means it is very precise considering the extreme range of the shot. There are weapons that are nowhere near as precise even from obviously much, MUCH shorter ranges.
delta DOR is how they do it: a practical use of blackholes.
Didn't expect to see an Expanse reference here, and from none other than Marco Inaros himself!
Since the energy removed from the asteroid is so much higher than the kinetic energy of the impactor, does it mean that DART liberated coesive energy contained in the structure of the material of the asteroid, which in turn propelled the ejecta?
Thank you Mr. Manley for all your efforts...
Anthony
No, the total energy was only the impact energy, but the simple inelastic collision would have had only a small effect. What made the larger result was the *momentum* of the ejecta blasted out by the vaporized spacecraft.
That’s great news. Well done to all who have worked (or is still working) on this project.
enjoy the portal refrence
Already hooked with that portal reference in the thumbnail, also huge respect to anyone who worked on this project.
A Portal reference on the thumbnail?
They must have gotten a good reaction effect from the ejecta.
Scott, you are the best at the dramatic space report. Thank you.
+100 for the Portal reference
I have a slight issue with using the phrase, "add thrust" when referencing the ejecta. That basically implies it's adding energy when it's actually _carrying away_ momentum energy from the spacecraft instead of it ultimately being absorbed by the asteroid. Same effect in the end, but phrasing can make a _big_ difference to how someone can understand exactly what's happening.
"Add thrust" is an accurate description because the impact site was briefly similar to a rocket combustion chamber (high energy density) and the ejecta was like rocket exhaust - "reaction mass" thrown in the opposite direction to the impact. It wasn't just a transfer of momentum.
That's fantastic indeed. And it means that we don't need even that much: a block of concrete with rockets and navigational systems is more than enough!
Thanks, Scott!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Why a block of concrete, just send a cluster of Raptor2 engines at full speed.😁
They're making a ton of them somewhere in Texas.
@@mennovanlavieren3885 Good question, I don't know. 😬
Because it's a compact piece of mass... A LOT of mass!
@@MCsCreations Yes, it might be that a long rod would penetrate farther into the asteroid before vaporizing and thus eject more mass at a lower velocity... the same energy supplied but with more momentum thrown out.
Consider the extreme opposite case of a cloud of styrofoam pellets (of the same mass) hitting the entire exposed face of the asteroid, their vapor clouds would expand without resistance carrying away the energy without blowing much regolith away.
@@r0cketplumber Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
And leave the styrofoam here on Earth, they're great to build rc airplanes. 😬
Very informative. The post analysis of this event is the most detailed I have viewed. Great video, thanks for sharing.
This is the most amazing accomplishment in space science in decades. Why? Practicality. This has real world uses for everyone on Earth immediately that we can all understand. I really think they should be talking about this a lot more.
oh the physics works what a surprise
now they just have to build 100 000 small dart things and hit any threatening
asteroid far out
we who play KSP knows that any changes in direction EARLY will pay off more
especially when the asteroid is at apoapsis
Love your videos and work 🤩 especially the space Legos!
One of your best videos, IMO. Thank you, Scott
4:10 Man, this diagram really sold to me how much of a fatal success this mission was. That is a huge change in orbit!
thats the placeholder photo they had even before the impact happened that isn't anywhere near accurate
@@NoProfileName Fuck.
Talk about a watershed moment! Wow, that's an insane amount of difference for such a small little rocket to create!
Thanks so much for the update. 🖖🏼🙂👍🏼❤️❤️
Still think we send Bruce Willis and a handful of supporting actors to destroy the asteroid.
Damn, now I have that glados-song from the end of portal in my head...
Very cool to see such strong results.
Well, our chances for continued existance just showed an improvement.
__
I wonder if the impact could actually dig a hole that act as an ad-hoc nozzle and add efficiency to the ejecta from secondary explosion
"I'm making a note here, huge success" a tear came down.
This was a triumph!
love the portal reference
Great video! A lot of good information. Just be careful with the few sentences of the script. The DART mission was a specific case with time to plan a mission. Mother Nature is quite capable of finding new and interesting ways of killing us off. 😉
Love it!
Especially the thumbnail Portal reference!
I wonder though if we will need to develop different methods of deflection for various types of potential impactors.
Yep! Some Earth impactors won't offer that nice self-propulsion jet, requiring a much bigger defensive impactor.
Maybe we could do a pool/billiard mission, using an affordable impactor to launch another asteroid or comet towards the incoming Earth impactor. That will require a fairly complete map of available pool balls to choose from, calculating precise redirection needed to hit the primary target. We will also need the jet amplification factor for the earlier impacts in the cascade.
HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! ANOTHER GREAT SCOTT MANLEY VIDEO!!!👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
man I expected a lot more from LICIA. its so sad that they had to cancel AIM, imagine the amazing images we could have if they had a spacecraft in orbit or the asteroid.
Beautiful drop of The Expanse meme there, Scott. Well played.
If I understand this correctly, you said we would need to take action 30 years before the impact date in order for a mission like this to be succesful. Would probably have to be even earlier for a bigger asteroid which given the same impact would have a lesser change in its orbit. So maybe it is theoretically possible, but are we really going to detect an asteroid 30+ years before it hits the planet and take action in a reasonable timeframe?
i think it's more like 15 years max since if we ever discovered an asteroid was going to hit the earth dead on in the center we'd only need to move it half the earth's diameter (your point does still apply though)
Undoubtedly. Veritaseum has a good video on this. Every planet killer asteroid in the inner solar system has been mapped. The odds of one being jostled into a collision orbit without first doing many flybys is very low. What is more of a concern are city killer asteroids since they are smaller (harder to detect) and more abundant.
What's *really* scary though is how many objects are in the outer solar system that are dark. We only have estimates as to how many there are and how many have orbits that intersect the inner solar system with multi-thousand year periods.
Someone mentioned that he forgot about keyholes; if you impact an asteroid which is about to fly by the earth, that impact plus the gravity assist from earth will lead to a much more dramatic change in the future orbit.
If you could save humanity from that kind of impact, wouldn't you move heaven and earth to do so? (somewhat literally). Use bigger impactors and more of them.
@@kukuc96 Not to mention that the cost is really irrelevant. Even if it were trillions, we'd have to do it. And this shows that it's not even a measly trillion dollars, so a bargain.
lol. i love the Portal Reference in the thumbnail 'im making a note here, HUGE SUCCESS'
This technique, I believe, cannot be used to put something onto an earth collision. It imparts a random velocity kick, so it can only be used to avoid a target, not to hit a target. If you want to hit a target, you have to attach to the asteroid, measure the random impulse you applied in the attaching process, then use thrusters to do a precise adjustment of the velocity.
This isn't really true, DART was aimed to hit Dimorphos head-on in its orbit, and its orbit mostly decreased in radius. As far as I know the full orbit isn't known yet, we'll have to see the full results. But DART definitely aimed Dimorphos in a specific direction.
@@RobbieRosati how much material from the asteroid is ejected from the surface and what direction it goes in, as well as to what extent DART "bounced" (went into tiny pieces) flying the opposite direction vs "sticking" is totally random. Yes you can decide (with precision) how much momentum the spacecraft has and where you hit the asteroid, but you can't decide how much impulse the collision imparts on the asteroid. The impulse will be the momentum of the spacecraft times a fairly random factor.
@6:20 The dust cloud on the left is being backlit by the bounce off the astroid to the right. The dark 'ring' is just the shadow between the smaller astroid and the dust cloud that is obfuscated by the cloud and bounce light.
There are particles there, just not lit
The biggest thing not being mentioned is the issue of time. We have to detect an incoming rock with enough time to do something about it. There is also the related issue of the size or mass of the rock. The bigger they are the easier they are to spot but the further out they need to be noticed. This shows we can do it but funding needs to be increased by an order of magnitude to find and track ALL the rocks that might threaten us.
The detection rate of NEOs is already higher than it's ever been.
We need a sphere of satellites and observatories surrounding the Earth at at least 10AU to catch all the potentially deadly candidates AND have enough time to react to them.
@@EnglishMike reminded me of this video (partiallink: watch?v=BKKg4lZ_o-Y&ab_channel=ScottManley) ...which I did not know was from our host until now.
@@FutureChaosTV No we don't. We have far more pressing matters -- like the climate crisis -- back here on Earth to spend the money on. We've already detected the vast majority of the planet killers that could be a danger to us, and we're already well on the way to detecting the rest.
Thing is Though, this proves it works. You could build up a Sphere of satellites with automated thrusters that only monitor their neighors.. and not have to detect a NEO.. as soon as one locks on, the others follow and collide like a Convoluted Convoy to change the asteroids course to avoid Earth. Wouldn't even depend on centralized speed of light communications. If an Ancient Civilization "left behind" such a Planetary Network.. it could still be protecting Earth. technically I think NASA has a name for it.. called.. a Whipple Shield .. this would just be massively scaled up. In an odd sort of way.. The SpaceX "Starlink" network.. is kind of a Whipple Shield.. they are building up multiple 'Shells' and it makes you wonder sometimes.
Scott once again I wish to thank you for your fantastic yet human explanation of this groundbreaking step forward for humanity. You take the complex and bring it into focus so that mere mortals can grasp it. Hearing your perfect explanation is only enhanced by your wonderful Scottish accent. Tipping hat with deepest respect.
Thank you for helping us help you help us all.
always appreciate the updates Scott. I do have a question about the DART impact though.
was 6.6 k/s the speed of the impactor relative to the target asteroid? or relative to earth? the sun?
i would expect it to be the first, but when i see news reports of "car crash at 300 kph" where two cars going about the same speed had a minor interaction with minimal or no damage done, makes me want to double check
It was hitting the asteroid at 6.6 km/s, so it was relative to the asteroid.
It is probably unsafe to assume that all asteroids are just aggregates of small particles. Some are likely to be solid rock... or something else. I'm pretty sure that differences in composition will affect the outcome of a collision like this.
Perhaps could be interesting another test against a solid rock or metal asteroid, or a comet.
From the top rope, Earth wins again.
That last line gave me chills
Cool explosion Scott!
I love the video work you are doing filling in the blanks.
Has there been any word on the changes to the solar orbit of the central body Dimorphos?
Or will we have to wait several years to fine tune the measurement?
OK, you made at least me do the math... given a change in orbital period from 11h55m18s to 11h23m, that would seem to correspond to an impact delta-v of just about 3 cm/sec... on the tiny 5e+9 kg moon. But the System masses 5.4e+11 kg... roughly 100x larger. So i terms of momentum (p=mv), that larger system experienced a change of about 0.3 mm/sec. That's... really tiny. Detectible with a long enough baseline? Well... not if there are other effects on that scale (and, their are; solar pressure, material falling back to the surface, Yarkovsky effect, etc.). We've only seen Didymos through about a dozen orbits to begin with, so I suspect that implications on the solar orbit of the system will be swamped in other effects and uncertainties.
@@brdavis5 So, if the new Didymos orbit around Dimorphos is adequately eccentric, this new small amount of tidal force will be a constant, and over time, change Dimorphos solar orbit?
Honestly I'm well past the edge on my understanding of the gravity tractor.
Yarkovsky won't be the constant it was, new material distribution, albedo has definitely changed.
Cheers on the maths though!!!
I haven't dusted my calculator in years.
Just super excited about all this!!
I had similar question: Didymos orbit is now smaller, why is Scott using 30 years analogy to evade Earth (if she was in the orbital path of Didymos, and if both were orbiting the Sun, not Dimorphos), but orbit shrinks only once (after impact), not gradually. If I'm wrong, does it mean Didymos will crash into Dimorphos now much sooner than later?
@@anorak-adenoids I'm not sure if I can help, but I'll try.
Didymos is orbiting Dimorphos, Dimorphos is orbiting the sun, in a very similar manner to the Moon orbiting Earth while Earth orbits the sun.
The impact has changed the orbit of this small asteroid around it's larger asteroid parent body.
The Moons gravity has a small effect on the Earth as it goes around, we see this because the oceans go in and out.
Now that the small asteroid has a new orbit around the big asteroid, and once all the dust settles, the large asteroid will have a new orbit around the sun because the very small tidal forces between them are no longer the same as they were.
The small asteroid called Didymos, makes close to 2 orbits per day around the larger asteroid Dimorphos for the last 14 days, and we can already see that its orbit has changed in only 30 orbits.
But the large asteroid takes almost 2 years to orbit the sun just once, so to get the same number of orbits to confirm how much it has changed will take around 30 years.
@@Kevin-hb7yq thanks for taking your time. Scott says 4:07 the orbital speed of Didymos decreased by 640 m/day. Nowhere does he (nor the diagram) mention a change in Dimorphos orbit. He only says that it will take 30 years to "displace" Didymos by the size of the Earth. So my understanding is that imagine Didymos is orbiting the Sun and if it was on a collision course with the Earth, we could evade this by launching the same DART-sized satellite at least 30 years prior the impact.
Damn you Scott Manley! So, not even another Armageddon Bruce Willis blockbuster movie? No nukes!!? How long then ,till we can try this on that interstellar snoop, Oumuamua? Tether her to mother earth and board them hehe. Great episode as always.
Is there any expectation that the orbit of the parent will be changed as a result of the DART impact?
I think it's safe to say that the impact will have had some effect, but that it's so small that it's below out ability to detect it, at least not without having done a long term study of its orbit before and after the impact.
Gotta love the portal reference
This was a system in a state of equilibrium, now we have changed the relationship between to two bodies, how has that changed the flight path of the whole system? Has moving the smaller rock changed the path of the big rock? It will be interesting watching the smaller rock gather back its mass, if it does. Would the change of mass, from the satellite to the main body, effect its flight path? I think this experiment may yield unintended results that may be more valuable than the original plan. One way to move a large rock is to hit a smaller one nearby, sending it into the large one with a much more massive force.
Excluding material lost or gained, you can treat these gravitational systems as a larger single mass at the center of gravity, so it would be affected as a whole as if a single equivalent mass was but by DART, but it's far less of an effect given the mass difference.
@@SimonBuchanNz Small amounts of change are what this experiment was all about. If someone is watching for it, a change of one tenth of a degree in the large mass, taking the smaller mass with it, mat prove even more valuable a lesson. If, its equilibrium has been disturbed, the smaller mass may even be effected by the gravity of the larger one and bump into it or even something more violent and that would certainly change its course. I had thought the blown out material would either reattach to the smaller mass or to the larger mass but the energy expressed was too much for gravity to effect at all, so that mass is lost altogether.
Please please bring back computer-music-all-stars! I loved that happy tune at the end of every video! It was the perfect ending
Why did the suicide sat have a much better cam than the "selfie stick" sat?
Because it was 100x bigger.
+10 for _Still Alive_ reference!
I remember researching this for a presentation. Cool to see it again
I've been waiting for this moment practically my whole life... when humanity finally has the ability to save itself from an astronomical catastrophe... TAKE THAT NASA BUDGET CRITICS !
I'm not sure you actually have to move an asteroid the width of the Earth in a simple linear sense. If you catch an Asteroid at certain points in its orbit, even the tiniest changes result in large changes down range. Specifically, if an Asteroid has a highly elliptical orbit, the tiniest changes at the apogee result in huge changes at perigee. Kind of like how a weight swinging on a string can have a very different swing with the just the slightest nudge at the apex of its swing. Anyway, I'm not an orbital expert by any sense, so tell me if I'm wrong.
Yes, the impact delivers a certain amount of delta-V. If that is applied at aphelion (not apogee because the asteroid isn't orbiting the Earth) it is as large as possible compared to the actual speed of the object, so has the biggest effect. It would also be vital to work out which direction to apply the change.
It's nice to see that we're finally making a little bit of progress. The team deserves congratulations on the job they did, but at the speed we're doing, it will be a long time before we have a system that offers even minimal protection.
I suspect the way this would play out for real is a series of launches are fired a few days apart once a threat object is found. They make their way toward the object and one after another nudge the object to a new course. The larger, or closer, the object is the more launches would be needed. This allows for fine tuning the new trajectory a bit more, and allows for the use of readily available rockets already in stock vs building a super heavy lifter if a significantly larger mass needs to be sent up. Instead of one huge projectile just use 10 projectiles of lesser mass.
Just amazing…absolutely Amazing!!! The folks involved in this “experiment” should be given the Nobel Peace Prize for laying down the foundation of saving the planet from an Asteroid!
The Expanse books are amazing and the TV adaptation is easily the best Sci-fi series to date.
This achievement kind of settles the debate for those in the army of _"But why spending millions in spacecrafts to hit rocks when there's millions of people hungry on Earth as we speak?"_ people. We do what we must because we can.
Would be interesting to go back to see the crater up close and the other one years ago.
Thank you for the expanse reference!
This is huge news for humanity, if we can see it coming. We will be able to knock it off track humanity keeps on truckin!
38k views in 2 hrs, ur getting popular, loved the expanse reference wish they made more seasons
Nice portal reference on thumbnail, and OH MY GOSH SCOTT MANLEY WATCHES THE EXPANSE 4:56
He's got the books on his shelf too!
My armchair, uneducated guess about the shadow:
As the cubesat approaches, the entire cloud seems to be fully lit, as though the Sun is at the cubesat's back-ish side.
As it passes by and looks back, what I suspect we're seeing is the illumination from the Sun *plus* the reflected glow from Didymos onto Dimorphus; however, the reflected light gets occluded partially and causes the dark zone (shadow).
But I would think there's a chance for there to continue being dust kicked out for awhile after impact, just on account of "ringing". (eg: how earthquakes/volcanic eruptions reflect around inside of Earth).
we live in crazy times