How do we ever manage to connect a small space probe with a small asteroid at large speeds and distances? Like how do we know it’s a small asteroid at distance X versus a slightly larger asteroid at distance Y, etc?
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We know the dimensions and distance to it, because we can see it, and measure it over time. If it were bigger and farther away, then it wouldn’t be in the orbit it is.
And once you know distance, speed, and mass, it’s the simple matter of following Newton’s laws of motion to see where it’s going to be at pretty much any time in the future. And then, it’s the less simple matter of building and launching a rocket into interplanetary space.
If you can do the second part of that, you can do the first.
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