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Nukes Not the Best Way To Stop Asteroids, Says Apollo Astronaut
MajorTom writes "Right now, we are not tracking many of the asteroids that could destroy earth. But within the next decade, new telescopes will make that possible, and leave us with the tough decision of what to do about objects with an alarming chance of hitting our planet. Last year, NASA said that the best option is to nuke them. This week, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, explained that there are far better options, and he has started an organization to prove that they can work."
That or a presidential candidate. We could pretty much replace any of them with a button marked "Crap".
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
No offense to WK2; your post was clever and I actually laughed out loud, but "Insightful" instead of "Funny"?. I'm shocked SHOCKED that there are moderators here who have no clue what they're doing.
And in terms of energy imparted to the asteroid compared to launch mass, nothing else comes remotely close to the efficiency of nukes (E=mc^2 and all that.)
This suggests the question, is it necessary to have that level of efficiency?
Yeah nukes are awful things. But so are ICBMs... and ICBMs are the basis for most of the launch vehicles used for peaceful space exploration.
Unfortunately, it's more the other way around. The justification for having a space program has always been the military benefit. The space shuttle was redesigned to carry military payloads. Lessons learned from rocket programs led to the successful development of the ICBM...
However, I don't really care if we weaponize space (I see it as a foregone conclusion anyway, sorry) if that's what it takes to get us in to space in a more major way.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
With regard to your point #2, it is not clear that a "construction yard" would be necessary, nor a long construction time. The proposed structure is more than large enough to be self-supporting, and could be shipped up in mostly-constructed pieces (panels et cetera.) The first part you build is the docking facility... Regardless, what is missing is an inexpensive heavy lift capacity. I believe that the space elevator will get there first...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"