https://www.extremetech.com/science/nasas-dart-mission-accidentally-redirected-space-rocks-at-marsNASA chalked up a major accomplishment with DART—the Double Asteroid Redirection Test. In 2022, the DART spacecraft successfully plunged into a space rock dubbed Dimorphos. The test showed that it is possible to redirect an asteroid, potentially saving Earth from a future cataclysm, and it may not take as much energy as previously believed. Some bits of Dimorphos have been redirected a bit more substantially than expected. A new study projects that fragments of Dimorphos may one day collide with Mars due to DART's impact.Until the last several years, no one had ever gotten an up-close look at the surface of an asteroid. Now, not only have we seen several of them in the rocky flesh, but both Japan and the US have collected large samples from asteroids. We are beginning to learn that many asteroids are not the monolithic objects we thought. Instead, they're more akin to floating rubble piles. When OSIRIS-REx touched down on Bennu to collect its record-setting sample, it was almost swallowed up by the gravel-strewn surface. In the case of DART, NASA has confirmed that the impact changed the shape of the object, which is about the size of The Great Pyramid of Giza, but it also flung some large boulders into space.The new study, available on the pre-print arXiv server, says the impact of DART ejected at least 37 boulders from Dimorphos, some up to 22 feet (seven meters) in diameter—the specs visible in the image above. The swarm of space rocks is still clustered near Dimorphos and its orbital partner Didymos, but that won't be the case forever. The study sought to track the potential course those objects will take, and the researchers claim these fragments will get around over the next 20,000 years.
There's no danger from objects of this size even if they were headed in our direction, but the study predicts none of the debris will fall into Earth's gravity. However, the fragments will likely cross the orbit of Mars in the future. Since Mars has very little atmosphere to break up asteroids, the larger chunks of Dimorphos will hit the surface, leaving craters up to 1,000 feet across. However, if the meteorites have a strength of less than 1 MPa, they could still fragment and create a collection of smaller craters over a large area.The analysis predicts that Mars and the fragments will cross paths in about 6,000 years and again in 13,000 years. While no one on Earth has to fret about this, it's possible someone will be on Mars in a few thousand years when the Dimorphos meteorites arrive. This far-future astronaut might have to spare a thought for the outcome of an ancient space mission from an era when we barely understood how to nudge asteroids around the solar system. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2402.08048.pdf
>>1285459>>1285460Yet more human made muckery in the solar system
I'm from Buenos Aires and I say kill 'em all!
>>1285459Nobody believes any of this shit
>>1285544Why are you angry with NASA?
>>1285557Republicans love to shit fury against their boogeyman of the week and stir hatred in literally every single thread. They need to be rounded up and chained up in an asylum
>>1285482How you gonna whine when we launch your fat ass into space?
>>1285557NASA = the deep state
>>1285604Donald J. Trump
>osiris >giza Nothing to see here.
>>1285459>chunks to fall on mars"Remind me in 6000 years when the chunks actually make it to mars' orbit.
>>1286421>Welp can't build a city on Mars now because it will be destroyed in 6000 years now. Thanks 21st century NASA! Thanks Joe Biden!
>googled Double Asteroid Redirection TestThat was a cute surprise.
>>1285459Titus, get the Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator.
