Nuke an Asteroid

[Superluminal]

Since we don't really know what would happen if we tried to deflect and asteroid with a nuke, and this info could be vital to saving the planet someday. If the US could get the backing of other countries, should we try nuking a few of the many neo's out there just to see what would happen?

[wedgebert]

I would think one of two things would happen.

A: The asteroid would break up, spreading the mass out in an expanding cone of debris. Or it might break up, but stay together.

B: The asteroid's course is altered by the nuke depending on the power of the explosion and the mass of the asteroid.

But if we DO nuke one, we would try to alter its course into Earth orbit so we can mine it.

[The Supreme Canuck]

I'd have to say that we try to nuke it away from the planet on the first try. We have no idea what would happen. After we get good at it, we can park a few in orbit.

[man on the moon]

I'd have to say that we try to nuke it away from the planet on the first try. We have no idea what would happen. After we get good at it, we can park a few in orbit.

agreed. i would hate to nuke one [i]into[/] a collision course...

[tracer]

Asteroid billiards! Woo!


(BTW, what's an "asteroind"?)

[wedgebert]

I'd have to say that we try to nuke it away from the planet on the first try. We have no idea what would happen. After we get good at it, we can park a few in orbit.

Bah, it's all physics.

Here's another idea if you don't want one in Earth orbit though.

We nuke an asteroid so that it intersects Earth's orbit (around the Sun, not around the Earth) slightly ahead of Earth and at a very slightly higher velocity.

At the right time, we detonte another nuke or two and adjust the trajectory even more by slowing it down a little.

Then the asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere, but at a very low velocity since it's travelling WITH the Earth, not in orbit around it. Little parachutes pop out and it floats gently down to Earth, landing directly on Bart Sibrel's house.

Then we proceed to mine it. That way we don't have to travel into orbit or bring the materials back down to Earth.

[daver]

Then the asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere, but at a very low velocity since it's travelling WITH the Earth, not in orbit around it. Little parachutes pop out and it floats gently down to Earth, landing directly on Bart Sibrel's house.

Well, it will reenter at 7 miles/second minimum. I notice on cartoons that the smaller the parachute the more effective it is, so we need a really tiny parachute. Either that, or we need to revoke its gas ration card.

[Colt]

Would a drink umbrella work? We could find a crevice small enough to wedge the stick in. -Colt

[darkhunter]

"let us not go gently into the endless winter night"

Rush

[Doodler]

If we really want to try something like this on an asteriod, it ought to be a WTHOTO before an NEO.

[tracer]

WTHOTO?

A Way-The-Heck Out There Object?

[Doodler]

WTHOTO?

A Way-The-Heck Out There Object?

Read me like a cheap novel <bows>

[daver]

Would a drink umbrella work? We could find a crevice small enough to wedge the stick in. -Colt

That looks about right. You need to find a way to pop it just at the last minute, though.

[Colt]

Explosive bolts? -Colt

[SirPolish]

Would a drink umbrella work? We could find a crevice small enough to wedge the stick in. -Colt

That looks about right. You need to find a way to pop it just at the last minute, though.

There is only one man with the knowledge and creativity to take on such a challenge, … Jerry Bruckheimer! http://us.imdb.com/Name?Bruckheimer,+Jerry

[Invader Spleen]

the hippies would have a field day with this one, i for one think we should, at the very least itll help all those horrible b-grade sci fi movies about asteroids and stuff to have at least some good astronomy in them












(unless of course the result prove to be to boring)

[Gremalkyn]

Assuming that whatever device is used does not completely destroy the target, I suppose somebody would need to determine what *type* of device to use, not just the size of the yield. Perhaps different types of radioactive materials would affect different asteroid composites differently, somewhat independently of yield.

ook.

Would a plutonium device have a different effect on an iron target's surviving mass than it would on a stoney target's surviving mass - just because it is a plutonium device - or does the size of the yield effectively negate any difference in transferred radiation and/or molecular interaction?

ook.

Would the stuff that's left over from an iron target "glow in the dark" more / less than the stuff left over from a stoney target?

[daver]

Would a drink umbrella work? We could find a crevice small enough to wedge the stick in. -Colt

That looks about right. You need to find a way to pop it just at the last minute, though.

There is only one man with the knowledge and creativity to take on such a challenge, ? Jerry Bruckheimer! http://us.imdb.com/Name?Bruckheimer,+Jerry

Yes, i can see how is excellent work in Flashdance would prepare him for this role.

[daver]

Explosive bolts? -Colt

Hmm, good thinking, but too simple.

[Superluminal]

Asteroid billiards! Woo!


(BTW, woind"?)

hat's an "aster
An asteroind is nearly indistinguisably from a normal asteroid. An asteroind has a spin axis horizontal to the plane of the Andromeda galaxy, which is caused by a close encounter with the star "Nemisis", (hence the N in asteroind). Or maybe asteroind is just a typo. #-o

[Chip]

There may be another alternative to deflecting an in-coming asteroid - if -

1. We had plenty of warning time.

2. If the spin of the object is prograde. If its retrograde (such as the planet Venus,) it won't be able to hit the Earth, so we don't have to worry.

We could perhaps employ the Yarkovsky effect. If the asteroid rotates in the same direction as its motion around the Sun, the sunlit side on the asteroid's "afternoon" half will radiate more heat over time creating a slightly asymmetric imbalance in its motion. If we enhance it, this could alter the object's eventual trajectory over a long period of time.

If we discovered a giant asteroid destined to strike us in 300 years, we could rendezvous with it and dump talcum powder (or any white reflective material) on one side, thereby altering its infrared emission and gradually accelerating it into an orbit that misses us years later.

Andrea Milani of the University of Pisa has written about this idea here. (He suggests powdered sugar, and of course calls it “a sweet solution.”) http://spaceguard.ias.rm.cnr.it/tumb...o/article1.htm :wink:

[Colt]

Assuming that whatever device is used does not completely destroy the target, I suppose somebody would need to determine what *type* of device to use, not just the size of the yield. Perhaps different types of radioactive materials would affect different asteroid composites differently, somewhat independently of yield.

ook.

Would a plutonium device have a different effect on an iron target's surviving mass than it would on a stoney target's surviving mass - just because it is a plutonium device - or does the size of the yield effectively negate any difference in transferred radiation and/or molecular interaction?

ook.

Would the stuff that's left over from an iron target "glow in the dark" more / less than the stuff left over from a stoney target?

As far as I know it shouldn't have any different affect depending on what device type you used, fission, fusion. We could even launch a massive rocket filled with the equivalent ammount of TNT and do the same ammount of damage, no radiation. Of course, a rocket that size might very well outway the asteroid!

Here is a really good explanation of the different types and how they work: http://people.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-bomb.htm. -Colt

[sideways]

I gotta admit that nuking asteroids sounds fun and action-packed. But it seems that it would be more effective to use certain non-nuclear approaches when dealing with them -- especially if there's decades or centuries of time before an asteroid can impact Earth.

"Don't want to close my eyes
"I don't want to fall asleep
"Cause I'd miss you baby
"And I don't want to miss a thing"

[Betenoire]

I'd buy a darned good telescope just to watch that explosion.

[addition]
Then again, if the whole Galileo/Jupiter thing gave this board that much to talk about, BA might be unreadable with all the woo woo quoting and what not.

[tracer]

But it seems that it would be more effective to use certain non-nuclear approaches when dealing with them

You mean, like antimatter bombs? Wow, you really think big!

[Tau]

(He suggests powdered sugar, and of course calls it “a sweet solution.”)

If any extraterrestrial civilisation found the rock floating around and bothered to investigate it, the sugar coating would baffle them no end.
Imagine if that would be our only legacy. #-o

[Swift]

I thought at first this was a serious question, but looking at the answers now I'm not so sure. I'll just plunge in and give a serious answer anyway.

I thought there was lots of discussion when reviewing all the silly asteroid movies that this was a completely silly idea. On any significant sized rock at best you'll make a big crater, but you're not going to blow it apart. Maybe if you did it well in advance of impact, you might change the orbit enough to miss. And if you did blow it apart, you'll just have a bunch of little pieces hitting your planet. There are serious ideas about how to change the orbit of asteroids and I thought that changing the reflectivity is one of them. But all have to happen a long ways before impact. There are much better ways to use our resources than firing nukes at rocks to see what happens.

On the political front, can you imagine what the international community would say if we told everyone we were firing a rocket with a big nuke up but honest, we're just aimming at an asteroid. I wouldn't believe this administration, and I don't think anyone else would either. That alone would be enough to drive the North Koreans over the edge and into a shooting match.

[Madcat]

Actually I was thinking we could make a bucket full of stranglets or something and chuck that at the sun. Then we can ignore the asteroid because it's irrelevant.... *whistles and bites foot* 8)

Seriously though, you're probably right about not needing a nuclear bomb. I think if we found a problem in time to do anything about it, w wouldn't need that high a specific impulse. I think we should do it anyway though, it can't hurt and it would be a -very- cool experiment. <Pessimism > Hell, some day we'll want to know how to throw nuclear bombs around in space anyhow. </Pessimism >

[Charlie in Dayton]

Explosive bolts? -Colt

Hmm, good thinking, but too simple.

Gotta keep with the scale... loosely fitting and timed-to-wiggle-free-under-vibration pop rivets...(I had a car like this once)... 8-[

[Stylesjl]

If we had a powerful enough bomb we could break up the asteroid


Where all the peices will go:

Most will fly off into space and crash somewhere else
The peices will be smaller and burn to nothing in the atmosphere
The peices that survive hitting earth can land in the australian outback where there is no-one.....important