MIT system predicts the best way to deflect an Earth-bound asteroid
https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/19/mit-system-predicts-the-best-way-to-deflect-an-earth-bound-asteroid/
We’re not in immediate danger of any asteroids colliding with Earth – at least not as far as anyone’s aware. But it’s not like it hasn’t happened before, and there is an expected near-miss coming up in 2029. Accordingly, it’s probably best to be prepared, and MIT researchers have developed a system that could help determine the best possible method to avoid a collision – long before the situation becomes desperate.
An MIT team led by former MIT graduate student Sung Wook Paek describe a ‘decision map’ in newly published research that would take into account the mass and relative momentum of an approaching asteroid, as well as the expected time we have before it enters into a so-called ‘keyhole’ – basically a gravitational halo around Earth that, once entered, all but guarantees the asteroid will collide with the planet.