> The goal is to stop the asteroid hitting Earth, there's nothing wrong with deflecting it "too much".
Unless of course you don't deflect it but break it up into chunks where some of the chunks are still heading towards us.
Unless of course you don't deflect it but break it up into chunks where some of the chunks are still heading towards us.
There are two goals with this: (1) break down or deflect any large chunks to prevent damage related to ground impacts. (2) cause enough change to the orbits of the asteroid remnants such that any subsequent collision with earth would be spread out over time to prevent overheating of the atmosphere via clouds of debris.
The best solution is always to have the asteroid remain as intact as possible, but for certain asteroid types and scenarios, it may just have to be good enough especially as a backup.
Oh, lets just glass a side of the moon like a fresnel and zap the asteroids like an ant under a magnifying glass. I call it project Disco Moon