
We’re going to slam a spacecraft into an asteroid to try to deflect it - elorant
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614330/were-going-to-slam-a-spacecraft-into-an-asteroid-to-try-to-deflect-it/
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zw123456
Is anyone concerned about unintended consequences here? What if they deflect
it and it bangs into another one which deflects another that then crashes into
Earth ? Sort of the cosmic version of shooting yourself in the foot. Probably
a long shot I suppose, but that popped into my mind.

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rolph
i would be more worried about intended consequences, such as getting so good
at steering smaller bodies around and mathing out the trajectories , that it
can be weaponized. The accidents , things like orbital procession, are likely
to be far removed from the current generation, except for shrapnel from a
shattered rocky body, and that is the most immediate concern i can think of
happening accidentally.

some of these things are not solid, but are like big bundles of rocks stuck
together by dust and frozen matter.

