Posted on 06/22/2015 12:28:27 PM PDT by Red Badger
Illustration Of A Planetoid Crashing Into Earth
In 2013, a 60-foot-wide meteor exploded over Russia, and no one saw it coming. The Chelyabinsk impactor was relatively small by interplanetary standards, but the blast injured about 1,500 people and damaged 7,000 buildings. If a larger rock were headed for Earth, how would we defend ourselves? The short answer is, scientists aren’t really sure, but one solution sounds a lot like the plot from a 1998 Michael Bay movie: just nuke ‘em.
In hopes of averting a space rock calamity, The New York Times reports that NASA has just sealed a deal with the National Nuclear Security Administration—a branch of the Department of Energy that’s “responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science.”
Both branches have been independently researching how to use nukes to deflect comets, asteroids and meteors; the new partnership should make it easier for the rocket specialists and nuclear specialists to pool their knowledge. The plan is to characterize potential threats and find ways to deflect them on short notice.
Of particular interest are medium-sized asteroids and comets between 164 and 492 feet in diameter. Large “dinosaur killers” have been pretty well mapped and don’t pose a threat to Earth in the foreseeable future, while small rocks don’t cause catastrophic damage.
Computer simulations suggest that we could successfully blow up a medium-sized space rock. However, the resulting rock fragments could potentially make the situation worse, depending on how far the asteroid is from Earth when it explodes. A better solution might be to use the bomb to deflect the asteroid instead of blowing it to smithereens.
Other (non-nuclear) proposals include gravity tractors, using sunlight to “boil off” parts of the Near Earth Object, and using lasers or high-speed spacecraft to nudge the object off of its collision course with Earth. However, a 2007 NASA study indicated that nuclear solutions may be the best weapon we’ve got when it comes to fighting killer space rocks.
Catastrophism Ping!...................
Better call A.J., Chick, Bear and Rockhound.
Turning a few small rocks into a bunch of little bitty rocks. ;)
/johnny
I sure hope that we do just that - with plenty of overkill. When a civilization-destroying object is headed toward the Earth, it isn’t time for half-measures.
The same government who let “China” read our personnel files for a year, who couldn’t protect a US Ambassador, doesn’t have enough amphibious ships for the Marine Corps, couldn’t set-up a simple website, lost guns in Mexico and forfeited the Middle East? Well, I’ll sleep better tonight.
Even the “relatively small” Chelyabinsk rock was equivalent to 20-30 Hiroshima bombs. It would have caused a lot more devastation had it not exploded high above the ground.
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What in the world does this have to do with making Muslims feel better about themselves?
Pieces Be Upon Them......................
“Blowing things up” seems to be the common (and calming) thread. It is a “religion of peace” after all.
“What in the world does this have to do with making Muslims feel better about themselves?”
We’ll be giving them the nukes?
I believe Jupiter runs defense for our planet.
Environmentalists would complain if a nuke was successful in deflecting an asteroid.
We’re not talking an over 50 kT nuclear warhead like the W80 warhead on our cruise missiles. A 15-20 kT warhead is enough to “nudge” the trajectory of the asteroid to a different orbit if you drop a soft lander with the warhead on the asteroid and then detonate the bomb.
Trouble is, we’ve lost our launch capabilities.
This was all heavily studied in the late 60’s under “Project Icarus”, an MIT study.
I remember when I was in college I worked in the library back then putting books back on the shelves. I stumbled across the Icarus study and sat down in the aisles and read it...
99.9% certain now that we would just blast it into a different orbit.
hypothetically speaking... if a 60m asteroid was on target to impact directly on mecca tomorrow and we had a nuke that could vaporize it before impact, should we?
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