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D3ATHfromAB0V3x t1_iqx52ni wrote

Reply to comment by Fortune090 in After DART: Using the first full-scale test of a kinetic impactor to inform a future planetary defense mission by EricFromOuterSpace

I'm not arguing about the validity of the impactor. It's probably the best solution we have at the moment. I'm just curious why we would rather move it slightly off course than destroy it and never worry about it again.

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led76 t1_iqx678l wrote

I think the idea is that an extinction-level asteroid might be bigger than this one, so destroying may not be an option.

Also, nudging it out of the way of earth takes far less energy. And if you blow it up big chunks of it could still cause immense damage. They don’t have to be big. Enough pebble-sized meteorites in succession could heat up the atmosphere enough to kill off a lot of things.

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crazyjkass t1_ir1szrc wrote

The probability that an extinction-sized asteroid will hit in the next 100 years are infinitesimally small. We already mapped out all the large asteroids in the solar system. NASA is actually worried about asteroids big enough to vaporize one city, because they're so numerous and hard to see.

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