> Alan Fitzsimmons, a DART investigation team member and astronomy professor at Queen’s University Belfast, said he would like the gravity tractor technique tested next, “because it’s actually very difficult to accurately guide and maneuver spacecraft in very close proximity to an asteroid.”
For the gravity tractor technique, I’m curious whether any experts here could explain just how challenging it would be to have a spacecraft match the speed and path of an asteroid headed to Earth. Could you take an elliptical path, and how much fuel would you need to match the asteroid’s velocity? How would that compare with past missions with a return component (e.g. the moon)?
As a layperson, just smashing into an asteroid seems like much simpler technique, if admittedly less elegant.
[1] https://archive.ph/20221011184904/https://www.wsj.com/articl...