Yep, I read about the later pass too, in the online piece Kurt posted. I wondered if he'd even live through a debauche protracted out for that long! If the ion thruster had such small thrust, you could probably get similar results by just painting the appropriate face white- let it act like a 'solar sail'. --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote:
And, BTW, it's not the 2029 pass that has them worried. Everyone seems to think it will be close (just inside the 40,000 km geostationary orbit) and at third magnitude, bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, but it will not hit us.
However, that close pass could alter its orbit such that a few years later it could hit us.
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