Planetary defense test deflected an asteroid but unleashed a boulder swarm
A UCLA-led study of NASA’s DART mission determined that the strategy presents previously unanticipated risks.
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.
We won't have to use this defense mechanism very often anyway. Fingers crossed.
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.
![[HN] Planetary defense test deflected an asteroid but unleashed a boulder swarm](https://lemmy.uhhoh.com/pictrs/image/e9c9078d-c408-486f-8091-bc3a5ca044b2.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=196)