How to Deflect an Asteroid with Today?s Technology

Artist concept of a space tug. Credit: NASA

Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart is among an international group of people championing the need for the human race to prepare for what will certainly happen one day: an asteroid threat to Earth. In an article on Universe Today published yesterday, Schweickart said the technology is available today to send a mission to an asteroid in an attempt to move it, or change its orbit so that an asteroid that threatens to hit Earth will pass by harmlessly. What would such a mission entail?
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Post tags: Asteroids, Planetary Defense, Rusty Schweickart

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