To do this, the team gathered data from the DART mission and developed a computational technique to figure out which points on the surface of an asteroid would have the least probability of sending it into a gravitational keyhole. Gathering the object’s shape, surface, rotation, mass, and the presence of craters or hills on the surface, scientists can find the sweet spot. “With these probability maps, we can push asteroids away while preventing them from returning on an impact trajectory, protecting the Earth in the long run,” Makadia said.
