British Company Takes Lead To Stop Asteroids

An anonymous reader writes to tell us that following the news of NASA's budget cuts impacting their ability to do things like watch the sky for asteroids, a British company has decided to create a "gravity tractor" ship that could divert asteroids away from Earth if the need should arise. Of course, a gravity tractor certainly isn't a new idea. "Dr. Cordey said the company had worked with a number of space authorities on other methods of protecting the Earth from asteroids, but this one would be able to target a wider range. He said: 'We have done quite a lot of design work on this with the European Space Agency and we believe this would work just as well on a big solid iron asteroid as well as other types.' But the high cost implications mean that before the device could be made, it would have to be commissioned by a government or a group of governments working together."

Comments

Re:15 years to prepare?

[LandGator]

A year? A year? With 2008_TC3, we had twenty hours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_TC3 We need an Project Orion ship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion), an Archangel Michael design http://www.up-ship.com/apr/michael.htm to shove the next Dinosaur Killer Rock out of the way.

Re:Not necessarily

[FudRucker]

2036 is awfully close to the end of UNIX time, maybe it is a prophecy of the end ;-]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

One stone, two birds...

[pjt48108]

Here's an idea...

How many tons of launch debris do we dodge daily in orbit?

Why not collect it, and use its condensed and combined mass for such a "gravity tractor?"

Just asking...

Re:One stone, two birds...

[maxume]

Fuel. The debris occupies a huge volume, and to collect each piece, you have to spend enough time in an intersecting orbit for the piece to come to you.

Re:The Free Market fixes another intractable probl

[Anonymous Coward]

Glad you support the free market!

That sound you hear is people laughing at you, not with you.

When the cost of making this device is equal to or less than the value provided by it, it will be made.

Except that when the "product" is the collective safety of the entire earth and there is no opportunity for profit, then the free market will let it slide, waiting for "big bad government" to fill in the gaps, as it always does, no thanks to the randites.

Until then, since at the moment there would be no value provided by the creation of this that would be equal to or greater than the cost of its creation, the value expenditure won't be made.

And if there is something headed our way that will literally destroy the entire world, "free market" and all, then so be it, huh?

The Free Market "wins" and "works" again!

FTFY

Re:Bad science

[LandGator]

If you explode a nuke outside the Van Allens, the fallout is swept away by solar wind. We've done it before. http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/hane.html However, a conventional nuke might only decimate an incoming Big Rock, leaving 90% behind. I'd rather see a pusher plate mated to the Big Rock, then detonate specially designed nukes against the plate, like in the Project Orion ship in FOOTFALL. http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/O/OrionProj.html http://books.google.com/books?id=4S2KocYp8AkC&pg=PA159&lpg=PA159&dq="pusher+plate"+Orion&source=bl&ots=yRM2KRDRst&sig=NWZvu3gbjAAwyKva2-Jl_jlduhM&hl=en&ei=qnucSs-xCJSwsgPxwNCaDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=%22pusher%20plate%22%20Orion&f=false