| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Uncle Clover" |
| Date: |
25 Mar 2007 03:28:52 AM |
| Object: |
Diverting asteroids |
A curious possibility has presented itself to me today. Would it be
possible for us to build a fleet of space-bound "probes" to meet up
with asteroids in our solar system and - using their own internal
calculations and a force so simple as their own gravity - "steer" the
asteroids so that none of them ever hit Earth? How large would they
have to be to have a significant impact upon the trajectory of an
asteroid?
Just curious.
--
L8r,
Uncle Clover
__________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every birth carries within
it the seed of its own
demise
__________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Narrow minds
breed thick skulls.
__________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What some call "darkness",
others see simply as light
that is moving in another
direction.
__________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
|
|
| User: "quibbler" |
|
| Title: Re: Diverting asteroids |
25 Mar 2007 08:57:40 AM |
|
|
In article <ddcc03d4gnha8i9q4i319je6ri2naqu41a@4ax.com>,
UncleClover@NowhereNow.com says...
A curious possibility has presented itself to me today. Would it be
possible for us to build a fleet of space-bound "probes" to meet up
with asteroids in our solar system and - using their own internal
calculations and a force so simple as their own gravity - "steer" the
asteroids so that none of them ever hit Earth? How large would they
have to be to have a significant impact upon the trajectory of an
asteroid?
Of course, we've barely even sent probes to asteroids. The crafts
themselves are fairly small, but the vehicles needed to launch them from
Earth are still more expensive than many countries and agencies are
willing to spring for them. In theory, a system already in orbit, ready
to intercept an asteroid would be a good idea, though the shelf lives of
such systems rapidly degrade due to radiation and the obsolescence of
electronics technology with time.
Until we solve the general problem of cheap access to space, many such
projects will probably not get done in the first place. We'll see how
far the UN gets on persuading the rest of the world of the need for an
asteroid deflection system.
--
Quibbler (quibbler247atyahoo.com)
"It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the
threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, 'mad cow'
disease, and many others, but I think a case can be
made that faith is one of the world's great evils,
comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to
eradicate." -- Richard Dawkins
.
|
|
|
| User: "Al Klein" |
|
| Title: Re: Diverting asteroids |
26 Mar 2007 08:53:46 PM |
|
|
On Sun, 25 Mar 2007 06:57:40 -0700, quibbler <quibbler247@yahoo.com>
wrote:
Until we solve the general problem of cheap access to space, many such
projects will probably not get done in the first place. We'll see how
far the UN gets on persuading the rest of the world of the need for an
asteroid deflection system.
About as far as they've gotten in persuading the world to get together
on many other important issues - about ->][<- that far.
.
|
|
|
|
|
| User: "Mike" |
|
| Title: Re: Diverting asteroids |
25 Mar 2007 03:34:38 AM |
|
|
On Mar 25, 4:28 am, Uncle Clover <UncleClo...@NowhereNow.com> wrote:
A curious possibility has presented itself to me today. Would it be
possible for us to build a fleet of space-bound "probes" to meet up
with asteroids in our solar system and - using their own internal
calculations and a force so simple as their own gravity - "steer" the
asteroids so that none of them ever hit Earth? How large would they
have to be to have a significant impact upon the trajectory of an
asteroid?
Just curious.
--
L8r,
Uncle Clover
Yes and NASA has considered just that. If action is taken early
enough the space craft would not need to be large. If you take action
sufficiently early a "significant impact on the trajectory" is not
needed. The slightest nudge will do.
__________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every birth carries within
it the seed of its own
demise
__________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Narrow minds
breed thick skulls.
__________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What some call "darkness",
others see simply as light
that is moving in another
direction.
__________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
|
|
|
| User: "Uncle Clover" |
|
| Title: Re: Diverting asteroids |
25 Mar 2007 06:34:59 AM |
|
|
On 25 Mar 2007 01:34:38 -0700, "Mike" <matmzc@hofstra.edu> wrote:
On Mar 25, 4:28 am, Uncle Clover <UncleClo...@NowhereNow.com> wrote:
A curious possibility has presented itself to me today. Would it be
possible for us to build a fleet of space-bound "probes" to meet up
with asteroids in our solar system and - using their own internal
calculations and a force so simple as their own gravity - "steer" the
asteroids so that none of them ever hit Earth? How large would they
have to be to have a significant impact upon the trajectory of an
asteroid?
<snip>
Yes and NASA has considered just that. If action is taken early
enough the space craft would not need to be large.
Dayum. Guess I should have checked to see if they already thought of
it first. :-) Think they're taking applications down there? :-?
(kidding - about the application, I mean) ;-)
But seriously, I'm bamboozled. I think this is the first one of my
ideas that wasn't instantly blown out of the water by something I
hadn't considered or was ignorant of.
I guess even fools get it right _once_ in awhile. :-)
If you take action
sufficiently early a "significant impact on the trajectory" is not
needed. The slightest nudge will do.
Difference in word usage, I believe. :-) For me, a "significant
impact" means "can it keep it from hitting our planet?" However
little actual adjustment is needed to the trajectory, the fact that it
would hit our planet without such an adjustment is fairly significant,
indeed! :-)
.
|
|
|
|
|
| User: "Smiler" |
|
| Title: Re: Diverting asteroids |
25 Mar 2007 11:11:19 PM |
|
|
Preparation H?
Smiler,
The godless one
.
|
|
|
|
| User: "Llanzlan Klazmon the 15th" |
|
| Title: Re: Diverting asteroids |
25 Mar 2007 07:22:11 PM |
|
|
Uncle Clover <UncleClover@NowhereNow.com> wrote in
news:ddcc03d4gnha8i9q4i319je6ri2naqu41a@4ax.com:
A curious possibility has presented itself to me today. Would it be
possible for us to build a fleet of space-bound "probes" to meet up
with asteroids in our solar system and - using their own internal
calculations and a force so simple as their own gravity - "steer" the
asteroids so that none of them ever hit Earth? How large would they
have to be to have a significant impact upon the trajectory of an
asteroid?
Just curious.
If the asteroids can be nudged early enough then yes. The cost of keeping
such a fleet going in space would be alarming to say the least. A far more
sensible and cost effective approach is to identify an asteroid on a
dangerous orbit and send a specific mission to deflect it. The main problem
is identifying the asteroid on a dangerous orbit far enough in advance but
not too far. The problem is that the further out in the future you go, the
more uncertainty in predicting the orbit as a very small error in position
measurement etc gets worse over time. You also wouldn't want to adjust an
asteroid to discover that you had manouevered it to hit the Earth.
Klamzon
.
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
