[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Boulder storm 'as deadly as Hiroshima' accidentally unleashed by NASA during test to change the traj (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/8/2023 3:28:14 PM EST
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Boulder storm 'as deadly as Hiroshima' accidentally unleashed by NASA during test to change the trajectory of an asteroid A boulder swarm 'as deadly as Hiroshima' was accidentally unleashed by NASA during its first planetary defense mission last year. Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, identified 37 boulders up to 22 feet wide that scattered off the surface of the moonlet Dimorphos after a spacecraft smashed into it. The mission, known as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), aimed to push the moonlet off its orbit in the event of an asteroid barreling toward Earth. While the test was a success, it came with unintended consequences: Smaller rocks flying off into space could create their own problems,' the team shared in a press release. Even a 15-foot boulder hitting Earth would deliver as much energy as the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city during World World II.  Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, identified 37 boulders up to 22 feet wide that scattered off the surface of the moonlet Dimorphos after a spacecraft smashed into it. The team likened the swarm of space rocks to a 'cloud of shrapnel expanding from a hand grenade' soaring through space at 13,000 miles per hour. While none of the rubble is on a collision course with Earth, scientists are weary that a boulder storm from a future asteroid deflection could impact our planet at the same speed the asteroid was traveling — fast enough to cause tremendous damage. NASA launched its DART in 2022 to move Dimorphos off its orbit, circling its parent asteroid Didymos. On September 26, the world watched as DART soared 15,000 miles per hour toward Dimorphos- and its orbit went from 11 hours and 55-minute orbit to 11 hours and 23 minutes following impact. Ultimately deemed a success, DART is now touted as a way to protect our planet from a catastrophic asteroid impact. A new study led by UCLA astronomer David Jewitt said: 'Because those big boulders basically share the speed of the targeted asteroid, they're capable of doing their own damage.'  NASA launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2022 to move Dimorphos off its orbit, circling its parent asteroid Didymos Jewitt said that given the high speed of a typical impact, a 15-foot boulder hitting Earth would deliver as much energy as the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Dimorphos was never a threat to Earth but was chosen by NASA as the test target because it is six million miles from our planet. This makes the moonlet close enough to be of interest but far enough not to have implications in case of unintended consequences like what UCLA found. The team analyzed images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in December 2022, finding 37 boulders were released from the surface of Dimorphos. The research, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, found that the rocks were likely knocked off the surface by the shock of the impact. A close-up photograph DART took just two seconds before the collision shows a similar number of boulders sitting on the asteroid's surface — of similar sizes and shapes — to those imaged by the Hubble telescope. rest of the story |
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Quoted: Boulder storm 'as deadly as Hiroshima' accidentally unleashed by NASA during test to change the trajectory of an asteroid A boulder swarm 'as deadly as Hiroshima' was accidentally unleashed by NASA during its first planetary defense mission last year. Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, identified 37 boulders up to 22 feet wide that scattered off the surface of the moonlet Dimorphos after a spacecraft smashed into it. The mission, known as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), aimed to push the moonlet off its orbit in the event of an asteroid barreling toward Earth. While the test was a success, it came with unintended consequences: Smaller rocks flying off into space could create their own problems,' the team shared in a press release. Even a 15-foot boulder hitting Earth would deliver as much energy as the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city during World World II. https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/08/18/74093201-12385379-image-m-2_1691515595316.jpg Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, identified 37 boulders up to 22 feet wide that scattered off the surface of the moonlet Dimorphos after a spacecraft smashed into it. The team likened the swarm of space rocks to a 'cloud of shrapnel expanding from a hand grenade' soaring through space at 13,000 miles per hour. While none of the rubble is on a collision course with Earth, scientists are weary that a boulder storm from a future asteroid deflection could impact our planet at the same speed the asteroid was traveling — fast enough to cause tremendous damage. NASA launched its DART in 2022 to move Dimorphos off its orbit, circling its parent asteroid Didymos. On September 26, the world watched as DART soared 15,000 miles per hour toward Dimorphos- and its orbit went from 11 hours and 55-minute orbit to 11 hours and 23 minutes following impact. Ultimately deemed a success, DART is now touted as a way to protect our planet from a catastrophic asteroid impact. A new study led by UCLA astronomer David Jewitt said: 'Because those big boulders basically share the speed of the targeted asteroid, they're capable of doing their own damage.' https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/08/08/18/74093605-12385379-image-m-5_1691515665040.jpg NASA launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2022 to move Dimorphos off its orbit, circling its parent asteroid Didymos Jewitt said that given the high speed of a typical impact, a 15-foot boulder hitting Earth would deliver as much energy as the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Dimorphos was never a threat to Earth but was chosen by NASA as the test target because it is six million miles from our planet. This makes the moonlet close enough to be of interest but far enough not to have implications in case of unintended consequences like what UCLA found. The team analyzed images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in December 2022, finding 37 boulders were released from the surface of Dimorphos. The research, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, found that the rocks were likely knocked off the surface by the shock of the impact. A close-up photograph DART took just two seconds before the collision shows a similar number of boulders sitting on the asteroid's surface — of similar sizes and shapes — to those imaged by the Hubble telescope. rest of the story Attached File |
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The asteroid impacted (Dimorphos) was 6 million miles away and according to the article, "The total boulder mass, Mb ~ 5 × 106 kg (density 2200 kg m-3 assumed), corresponds to about 0.1% of the mass of Dimorphos, and the boulders collectively carry about 3 × 10-5 of the kinetic energy delivered by the DART spacecraft impact". They selected the target because it was safe to do the test at that distance and with that asteroid. Read, gentlemen, read. |
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Quoted: The question is, are they big enough to deliver that much energy *at the surface*? A 10kt airburst at 30 miles up isn't even going to make a popping sound if you're standing outside watching, IIRC. Big fireball, like what West Virginia saw a few nights ago. Depending on composition. Now watch NASA pick a nickel-iron rock to do that to... Chelyabinsk was 60 ft across, 100k feet up when it went boom!, and 400-500 kt of of energy. So, these rocks are less than half the diameter, which means less than a quarter of the mass. Likely a big light show only. Still not optimal, but this is how we learn. |
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Link to NASA with video from spacecraft as it approaches target And video from Hubble:  Time-Lapse Video of Didymos-Dimorphos System |
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Quoted: Obviously you didn't read the OP in full... Quoted: Quoted: So they turned one boulder/asteroid into 37 smaller ones whose trajectory they can't control. They didn't think of that? The guy sweeping the floors at NASA could have told them that. Obviously you didn't read the OP in full... I read it just fine. They chose an asteroid far enough away not to have unintended consequences that would impact Earth. Then they blew it into 37 pieces and call it an unintended consequence which would imply they didn't intend for it to shatter. |
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Quoted: I'm pretty sure we're fucking OK. That impact would not have imparted enough energy on all of those objects combined to alter their orbit around the sun in any meaningful way. I trust this. Afterall username/avatar are pretty convincing  Don't laser blast me, Bro. I come in peace 
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Quoted: So they turned one boulder/asteroid into 37 smaller ones whose trajectory they can't control. They didn't think of that? The guy sweeping the floors at NASA could have told them that. They could have watched any movie ever about the topic and found that out. |
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I’m just impressed we could hit a moving object that small and that far away with a spacecraft. The math and engineering behind that is impressive. What MOA is that? The OSIRIS-REX mission is another impressive engineering feat. NASA is still doing amazing things with space exploration. |
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Quoted: until we discover they are full of microbes we have no immunity for.... Quoted: Quoted: A couple of Hiroshima most likely hitting the ocean are peanuts compared to a planet killer hitting the earth, etc. until we discover they are full of microbes we have no immunity for.... Acceptable losses  . I mean compared to what wiped out the Dinosaurs.Also: Shit would of happened already with all of the meteors landing on earth all day every day. |
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Quoted: I read it just fine. They chose an asteroid far enough away not to have unintended consequences that would impact Earth. Then they blew it into 37 pieces and call it an unintended consequence which would imply they didn't intend for it to shatter. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: So they turned one boulder/asteroid into 37 smaller ones whose trajectory they can't control. They didn't think of that? The guy sweeping the floors at NASA could have told them that. Obviously you didn't read the OP in full... I read it just fine. They chose an asteroid far enough away not to have unintended consequences that would impact Earth. Then they blew it into 37 pieces and call it an unintended consequence which would imply they didn't intend for it to shatter. NASA knew full well what would happen. The "journalist" wrote the clickbait. |
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I don't understand why people just post a regurgitation of some article they read without saying something about that article. And why make the subject of your post the same as the original article? It comes across like reading the NYT headlines. It's an interesting article, OP, but this thread would be more interesting if you said something about it instead of just the copy pasta of the original. |
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Quoted: The question is, are they big enough to deliver that much energy *at the surface*? A 10kt airburst at 30 miles up isn't even going to make a popping sound if you're standing outside watching, IIRC. Exactly. And the answer is no. They'd vaporize, possibly after a small airburst. |
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Quoted: I read it just fine. They chose an asteroid far enough away not to have unintended consequences that would impact Earth. Then they blew it into 37 pieces and call it an unintended consequence which would imply they didn't intend for it to shatter. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: So they turned one boulder/asteroid into 37 smaller ones whose trajectory they can't control. They didn't think of that? The guy sweeping the floors at NASA could have told them that. Obviously you didn't read the OP in full... I read it just fine. They chose an asteroid far enough away not to have unintended consequences that would impact Earth. Then they blew it into 37 pieces and call it an unintended consequence which would imply they didn't intend for it to shatter. No. They don’t think it shattered at all. The team analyzed images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in December 2022, finding 37 boulders were released from the surface of Dimorphos. The research, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, found that the rocks were likely knocked off the surface by the shock of the impact. A close-up photograph DART took just two seconds before the collision shows a similar number of boulders sitting on the asteroid's surface — of similar sizes and shapes — to those imaged by the Hubble telescope. |
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Quoted: Then you read it wrong. NASA knew full well what would happen. The "journalist" wrote the clickbait. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: So they turned one boulder/asteroid into 37 smaller ones whose trajectory they can't control. They didn't think of that? The guy sweeping the floors at NASA could have told them that. Obviously you didn't read the OP in full... I read it just fine. They chose an asteroid far enough away not to have unintended consequences that would impact Earth. Then they blew it into 37 pieces and call it an unintended consequence which would imply they didn't intend for it to shatter. NASA knew full well what would happen. The "journalist" wrote the clickbait. Well, I was making what some people would call a joke based on the article. I didn't read the mission plan before I commented. DailyMail is always know for their straight forward journalism. |