Further adding to occupant safety, frontal impacts are absorbed by crumple zones directed into Y-shaped chassis members and the main understructure – the strongest part of the chassis.
Unlike floating ice shelves which have little impact on sea level when they break up, the ice sheet is anchored to bedrock will blow the sea surface. Surrounded by open ocean, it is also vulnerable.
Just at this moment Stuart heard a splintering crash, saw the bow of the Lillian plow through his rigging, and felt the whole ship tremble from stem to stern with the force of the collision.
This is one of the busiest urban waterways on the planet, and they face threats such as, you know, impacts from shipping which could include ship strikes or ocean noise, incidental entanglement in fishing gear.
The planetary society says that if all goes according to the plan, the collision will push the moonlet slightly closer to Didymous and shorten its orbit around the asteroid by a few minutes.