US physicists show how immense pulse of radiation could vaporise the side of asteroid and nudge it off course

  • @Hobbes_Dent
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    3 months ago

    … The European Space Agency’s Hera mission, due to launch next month, should help by surveying the aftermath of Dart’s impact on Dimorphos.

    Prof Gareth Collins, a planetary scientist at Imperial College, called Moore’s experiments “spectacular”. “I still have a strong preference for non-nuclear options, particularly single or multiple kinetic impactors, as we know they are technologically achievable,” he said. “But for a very large asteroid or a short warning time this type of approach may be our only option.”

    I wish these weren’t the last two paragraphs. It would have prevented a lot of internal “yeah but whatabout” while reading.

    Edit: Italics are cool but so is bold.