Maybe we should build a huge hyperspace button for the planet......
Posted on 11/17/2007 2:07:34 PM PST by blam
Deflected asteroids may keep coming back
17 November 2007
What goes around comes around. Unfortunately, no such karma figures in plans to deflect asteroids on a collision course with Earth, a hearing of the US House Science and Technology Committee was told last week. One big whack will deflect an asteroid temporarily, but does not guarantee safety next time its orbit brings it close.
Asteroid researchers have long debated the merits of deflecting asteroids with a powerful blast such as a nuclear explosion. However, Rusty Schweickart, who heads an asteroid research group called the B612 Foundation, told the committee that the effects of powerful blasts are hard to predict, especially if Earth's gravitational pull acts on the object. An asteroid could pass through one of the "keyholes" that would nudge it back onto a collision course, so once diverted it might need to be steered past Earth to prevent this.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.newscientist.com ...
So, to make a long story short, we’re doomed!
Better option - put motors on it, get it into Earth orbit, mine the heck out of it.
And when we’re done with it we can use mass drivers to send it into the sun.
Nudging the little varmints into a collision course with the sun ought to take care of them.
Or use the hollowed out shell as either a space station or colony ship.
You don’t have to be a scientist to realize that deflections are just that—deflected— and not permanently resolved problems.
I would loose no sleep if we got the chance to study crater formation in real time, on Mars.
Maybe we should build a huge hyperspace button for the planet......
Okay, Rusty, so it’s a colosal game of ping pong, but consider the alternative.
True, they’re already in space so weight isn’t an issue. Thick enough bulkheads will solve a lot of the radiation problems.
Hell, this ain’t rocket science....Oh, wait, it is.... Never mind.
....Bob
It does put the problem off until the next orbit, which may be hundreds of years.
OH WAIT! What with global warming and all, that’s way beyond the time we destroy the earth ourselves.
Problem solved!
If an object has mass, the Earth's gravitational pull acts on the object. There is no if about it. See Physics 101.
“So, to make a long story short, we’re doomed!”
Now the only question is: global warming or asteroid?
“Context” is your friend...
The next sentence gives you the clue.... “... pass through one of the “keyholes” that would nudge it back onto a collision course, ...”
The idea being presented had nothing to do with “Physics 101” being left out... LOL!
I'm curious. How does one do this, deflect an asteroid with a nuclear explosion, I mean? To deflect something like an asteroid you need force. A nuclear explosion produces energy which isn't quite the same thing.
ML/NJ
If we are only postponing disaster 10 years, then other more permanent solutions should be investigated.
If we could nudge them into usefull orbits we could use them as an inter planetary conveyor system. Drop a payload on the asteroid surface when it’s in our neighborhood and launch the payload off its surface when it gets into the vicinity of mars or wherever else we need to deliver to.
Besides, we don't have to deflect them, simply delay them long enough for Iran to rotate into the correct position.
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