Planetary Defense Conference: Protecting Earth from Asteroids

bruce-willis-armageddon.jpg
 
It really is important but i dont think we have the means to stop a 100 ton rock travelling at 25000mph aimed directly at us unless we have 20 years advanced warning.
Time it takes to decide what we do about it: 2 years
Time to build tech to deal with it: 2years
Time it takes weapon to reach the asteroid, 10+ years
time it takes....KABOOM
 
Actually the best and most efficient option to deflect an incoming asteroid would be to use a gravity tug. I know the idea is actively being promoted and is possible with current tech. The last thing you want is to smash one large object into lots of smaller objects that can cause just as much damage.
 
You don't need to destroy it, simply detonate an explosive near the surface far enough away and it goes off course.

Sent from my droid blender, making apple and berry smoothies all day.
 
Shayd said:
You don't need to destroy it, simply detonate an explosive near the surface far enough away and it goes off course.

Sent from my droid blender, making apple and berry smoothies all day.
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That's one of the other options. However predicting the affect of an explosion to divert the asteroid is somewhat problematic. What happens if more adjustments need to be made?

A gravity tug would have the ability to adjust the trajectory as needed. Of course both methods would rely on early detection. The further away the object is the smaller the deflection needs to be.
 
just working out the trajectories of this thing, and the stuff needed to pull it off course will be a tremendous task... one tiny miscalculation will result in a pretty impressive level of inaccuracy... Also, remember that there's no air out there, so there's no medium for shock waves to hit it, which means you better off blowing the fusker up.
 
scotty777 said:
just working out the trajectories of this thing, and the stuff needed to pull it off course will be a tremendous task... one tiny miscalculation will result in a pretty impressive level of inaccuracy... Also, remember that there's no air out there, so there's no medium for shock waves to hit it, which means you better off blowing the fusker up.
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The explosive itself will generate the medium - Though fairly less powerful over distance.

Also, if the explosive is detonated on the surface, the shockwaves will travel directly through the meteor.

That, and the energy from the explosion kind of -has- to go somewhere.
 
Huh? So was the movie Armagedon not a true story then? I thought we have done it already! OH bummer! :-(

Thank god...that means Brucie is still alive! :-)

Seriously though.....We cant yet even travel to Mars....we cant seem to solve our fossil fuel and global warming problem. I dont have much faith in humanity solving a huge problem like this either.
 
Crusader said:
Actually the best and most efficient option to deflect an incoming asteroid would be to use a gravity tug. I know the idea is actively being promoted and is possible with current tech. The last thing you want is to smash one large object into lots of smaller objects that can cause just as much damage.
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Gravity tugs take a hell of a long time to have an effect big enough to change the course of the object. Hence my original timeline above :p
 
roLLz said:
Gravity tugs take a hell of a long time to have an effect big enough to change the course of the object. Hence my original timeline above :p
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Actually, they will need basically the same amount of time that any explosive deflection would need. 10 years seem to be the minimum time required to exert the necessary deflection. Of course it all depends on the size of both the tug and the inbound object. The further away the object the smaller the deflection needed. Increasing the mass of the tug results in a larger affect on the object.
 
Crusader said:
Actually, they will need basically the same amount of time that any explosive deflection would need. 10 years seem to be the minimum time required to exert the necessary deflection. Of course it all depends on the size of both the tug and the inbound object. The further away the object the smaller the deflection needed. Increasing the mass of the tug results in a larger affect on the object.
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All very true. I don't favour one method over another but the point I was trying to make is that none of the solutions currently proposed could be used if we had less than 5 years advanced warning. Even if we had 10 years, it would mean a global effort to save the planet and by the time our leaders got through squabbling it would be too late to attempt.
 
roLLz said:
All very true. I don't favour one method over another but the point I was trying to make is that none of the solutions currently proposed could be used if we had less than 5 years advanced warning. Even if we had 10 years, it would mean a global effort to save the planet and by the time our leaders got through squabbling it would be too late to attempt.
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That is indeed the scary thing and a fact that most of the "space is a waste of money" brigade seem to ignore. Heck most of the smaller, 1m+ sized objects, are only detected after they missed us!
 
ocleroux said:
Huh? So was the movie Armagedon not a true story then? I thought we have done it already! OH bummer! :-(

Thank god...that means Brucie is still alive! :-)

Seriously though.....We cant yet even travel to Mars....we cant seem to solve our fossil fuel and global warming problem. I dont have much faith in humanity solving a huge problem like this either.
Click to expand...

There have been loads of successful missions to Mars and beyond. The reason we can't solve the fossil fuel and global warming problem is that they arent priorities in enough people's minds. It's easy to blame leaders, but the fact is the vast majority of voters in all the democracies won't allow the leaders to make the tough decisions required, and the dictators don't give a hoot about what happens after they have had the good life.
 
An argument against total nuclear disarmament? Just in case you need a handy nuclear missile to deflect asteroids?
 
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