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SavageRat t1_j6h7shv wrote

Reply to comment by UHF1211 in Asteroids sudden flyby shows blind spot in planetary threat detection by coinfanking

My understanding is that the steam released from the flash boiling of water vapour in the rock would be enough to push an asteroid off course enough. As long as it was sufficiently far away.

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UHF1211 t1_j6ha6u7 wrote

How do we know there would be water on an asteroid headed for earth? Not all installer objects have liquids on them. How long would it take to deduce this and would this time be better spent trying other ways of deflecting it?

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SavageRat t1_j6hhxzg wrote

Unless it's was a solid metal of some kind, I believe it is a given that any rock based asteroid would have some level of moisture/ice in it.

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