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xGHOSTRAGEx t1_iqwtr55 wrote

Reply to comment by Override9636 in After DART: Using the first full-scale test of a kinetic impactor to inform a future planetary defense mission by EricFromOuterSpace

How much more effective would that same spacecraft be if it was 100 times faster?

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Typrix t1_iqwvpei wrote

10000 times more 'effective', if effectiveness correlates directly with energy.

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gulgin t1_iqxyhwu wrote

My favorite factoid about DART is that the impact was significantly more energetic than if they had literally made the entire impactor out of TNT, landed it on the asteroid and then blown it up.

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Override9636 t1_iqwwkm1 wrote

Kinetic energy = 0.5 * mass * velocity^2

So a 100x increase in velocity equals a 10,000x increase in kinetic energy.

(although it isn't that simple because the asteroids aren't perfectly solid objects and are more like loose collections of gravel.)

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