NASA just smashed it.

[Mando]

It will take 2 moths to know if it had the desired effect, but at least they hit the target.

https://mashable.com/article/nasa-dart- ... rash-video

[Phoebe]

This was very cool. It will be interesting to see the results and whether they think they'll be able to handle future threats. It seems like the type of thing you'd want to practice a couple times if the future of all might depend on it! But I imagine they're smart enough that even minimal practice gives so much info.

[Mike]

My guess is that there will be more practice. It's just that each trial takes a couple years and an appropriate target.

[Tahlvin]

My worry (albeit very small) is that they just changed this object's trajectory, and twenty or so years from now we're going to find that set off a chain reaction of collisions that result in a catastrophic earth collision with a celestial object that otherwise would not have happened.

[Akiva]

If only they hadn’t named it Project Hubris . . .

[Mando]

One would have to wonder what the mass of that asteroid is and what kind force they hit it with.

I am thinking it should be call "Project Bug-On-The-Windshield"


They say it will be a couple months before they have the data.

[Kyle]

So the asteroid is supposed to be the size of a football stadium and the satellite was the size of a golf cart. But when you're in open space? Maybe? But I also thought this asteroid had a twin it was orbiting.

[poorpete]

Success!

https://apnews.com/article/nasa-asteroi ... faf7c0d017

Chalk another one up for nerds!