I’m sure they did this whole thing on paper before executing, but why did they need to actually do it?
Normally, I’m all for funding space agencies, but there doesn’t seem like a whole lot of value in doing this. If you know all of variables in concept, you should be able predict that it would work. Right?
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We know that our impactor has a certain momentum. How much of that momentum will be transferred to the asteroid we’re impacting? Will the asteroid break up when hit? How much debris will be thrown off, and in which directions? How closely will all that match our on-paper modelling?
In addition to this: space is hard. Doing something for the first time is also hard. If we ever actually *need* to impact a space rock to redirect it, we might need to do so in a rush. Having a working, tested plan will make it easier, faster, and more likely to succeed.
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