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Planetary defense test deflected an asteroid but unleashed a boulder swarm(newsroom.ucla.edu)

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misk@lemm.ee
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Cybrpwca@beehaw.org
29 points

Good news: smaller pieces burn up much easier in the atmosphere, so in the case of an actual asteroid deflection it’s still a net gain.

Bad news: more potential navigation hazards.

I think that’s a fair trade.

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FaceDeer@kbin.social
15 points

Also, dispersing the boulders early enough means that most of them would miss Earth anyway.

I wouldn’t really consider them navigation hazards, space is really big and boulders are really small. You’d have to aim a probe really precisely at one in order to hit it.

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Declamatie@mander.xyz
6 points

We won’t have to use this defense mechanism very often anyway. Fingers crossed.

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