“We know they’re not going to be a threat anytime soon,” said Megan Bruck Syal, a planetary defense researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Such a diminutive asteroid may not sound like much of a danger compared to the 6.2-mile colossus that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago with apocalyptic results.Bruck Syal.
But an asteroid even several years away from Earth may not be suitable for deflection.The simulations showed that when the detonation took place two months or more ahead of the projected impact date, it was sufficient to ensure that almost every asteroid fragment that survived the blast missed Earth.Its hopeful success will come as a relief to planetary defense officers who, perhaps more than anyone else, don’t wanna miss a thing.