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Air Bags for Planetary Defense

Posted by michael on from the seat-belts-and-infant-seats-also-available dept.

Gallowglass writes "The Canadian paper, the National Post, is reporting on a plan to divert asteroids headed towards Earth. According to the story, the proposer, a Dr. Hermann Burchard, suggests deploying an inflatable mylar bag a few kilometers in size, and using it to push the projectile aside. An air bag for earth? The deployment mechanism isn't detailed in the story."

1 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Nobody abolished Newton's laws... by darkwiz · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think the idea would be to make some attempt to match it's speed, then contact and start the engines firing to push it off course.

    Rather than think of it like a car's air bag, think about it as a way to spread out the pressure along the surface of the object. A rocket on the surface of a comet or loosely bound asteroid may just disintegrate the parts, yielding little benefit.

    Which is more comfortable to sleep on: a pillow or the blunt end of a pencil?