Well, yeah. Deflecting an impact that’s scheduled 4 years in the future wouldn’t take much force and the DART mission proved that it’s achievable. We can just do that again in the months between when the asteroid comes back around and when it flies past us.
I think the DART mission picked a target of some convenience. This is no arbitrary target - it picked us. The stakes are a lot higher if failure is not an option. And of course, the world is currently tearing itself apart, so that won’t help when the moment for unity and collaboration approaches.
You’re not wrong, but something like this is well within the capabilities of private companies like ArianeSpace or SpaceX. Also, the stakes are just a city-killer asteroid, failure is entirely an option when there’s plenty of time to evacuate the impact zone.
4 years to develop an effective anti-asteroid response?
Well, yeah. Deflecting an impact that’s scheduled 4 years in the future wouldn’t take much force and the DART mission proved that it’s achievable. We can just do that again in the months between when the asteroid comes back around and when it flies past us.
I think the DART mission picked a target of some convenience. This is no arbitrary target - it picked us. The stakes are a lot higher if failure is not an option. And of course, the world is currently tearing itself apart, so that won’t help when the moment for unity and collaboration approaches.
You’re not wrong, but something like this is well within the capabilities of private companies like ArianeSpace or SpaceX. Also, the stakes are just a city-killer asteroid, failure is entirely an option when there’s plenty of time to evacuate the impact zone.