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Scientists Propose Using Cold War Era Weapons To Deflect Asteroids (blastingnews.com)
MarkWhittington writes: Many people are considering what to do if an asteroid was headed for a collision with Earth. One such collision wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Now, films such as "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" depict what might happen if Earth were threatened with a similar event in modern times. As a result, some people are repurposing weapons that were built or envisioned during the Cold War to confront the celestial threat, from old ICBMs to space-based laser systems.
Yeah, if by "now" you mean 18 years ago...
Yeah shoot some ICBMs at em, we certainly need more fucking orbital debris.
Meteor (1979)
No they're not. Stop making shit up.
What could possibly go wrong?
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
" One such collision wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. "
this is not science. that is a hypothesis. a good one but nothing more so far.
"films such as "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" depict what might happen ..."
really? mediocre movies are the way to model future?
too much of such propaganda and hype may lead to bad decisions that will make bad use of scarce resources.
resources better used on more real problems that results in real tragedy, every day right now. for instance, there are millions without clean water( and thousands die because of that). but such things are not sexy .
not to forget, in some places whole world of people are/were destroyed by governments( especially by principal ones that fought the cold war) in ways more terrible than in any movie. but usa is not looking for practical solutions but more wars and regime changes.
the one that wiped out the dino's was purposeful... it brought about our species. Im sure whoever did that is watching for asteroids such as that and deflecting them.
Wasn't it already figured out that trying to blow nukes off on an asteroid surface would achieve approximately JACK SHIT?
They're not sufficiently powerful to break up mass, and due to being nuked in space, the kinetic transfer is significantly less, therefore "deflection" wouldn't happen either.
And flying up and digging in a bunch of nukes isn't ever going to happen for a host of reasons...
So why, all of the sudden, are we digging up a bunch of brain-dead movie fodder that we already know won't work?
A new generation of people whose ability to reason has been compromised by mass media?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
This is illogical and not a worthwhile use of resources. While asteroid impacts clearly have occurred in the past, they are extremely rare on the timescale of human civilization. The prior probability of such an event occurring in the next 100 or 200 years is very low. Not only can we base this on prior probabilities but observational evidence. Lots of near objects are tracked and their orbits are extrapolated. Due to measurement uncertainty, the lack of data on recently discovered objects, and variability in the orbits of objects, these predictions become less accurate as the extrapolation moves farther into the future. Nonetheless, we have enough data to effectively rule out an impact from any known near Earth objects in the next century or two. The link I presented shows as much since all of the objects are rated zero on the Torino scale and the likelihood of an impact from any of those objects is extremely low.
While it's worth scanning for more near Earth objects, there is little value in preparing for danger presented by any of them. It's likely that, by the time there would be a threat from any such object, technology will have advanced to the point that our current plans would be worthless. However, we do face severe threats from our own activities and the resulting climate change, extinctions, and resource scarcity. Both the severity and urgency of these threats are much greater than those posed by an impact. It would be illogical to devote any resources to diverting near Earth objects beyond simply looking for them.
usually the argument against blasting asteroids was that instead of 1 big rock hitting the earth, there would be thousand of smaller rocks hitting the earth.
but why would that be worse? don't we chew food because as it is being divided into smaller and smaller pieces, there is more surface area for digestion and it breaks down quicker? wouldn't the friction from the atmosphere acting on the asteroid be analogous to digestion? why wouldn't a thousand smaller pieces, meaning more surface area, be beneficial? wouldn't the amount burned up by the atmosphere be more, therefore less actual mass hits the earth?
Chieftain tanks? Vulcan bombers? They won't work.
I deflect assteroids pretty damn well with my laser pointer bought from dollar tree. Gotta protect that glass dome from shattering!
The meteor impact will cause a nuclear winter that will cancel out the global warming.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Asteroids that is.
I'm disappointed what these days is called scientists.
On a more jovial note: cold war era weapons? Does that mean we're going to hurl Bush & Reagan into space? I'll like to see that :-)
"Scientists" should understand the difference between the low earth orbit that an ICBM can almost achieve versus intercepting an object in deep space. Deflect an asteroid a fraction of a degree when it's still a month away and it's certain to miss the planet. When the same asteroid is in range of an ICBM, it's far far too late to do anything.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
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While probably very inefficient, using a nuke to nudge a asteroid sideways should be possible because THERE IS NO PRACTICAL LIMIT to how powerful we can make a fusion bomb (until you get to things like you've exhausted the amount of hydrogen you can gather together, etc.) I read an article a while back that talked about this and it stated that people had decided not to design such a thing because if some whacko got ahold of it, it could be game over for us all.
The last time someone was serious about defending the Earth, nobody cared enough to pay for it.
What this thread is missing is "time to call Bruce Willis" comment. OK, blowing up a threatening asteroid is common movie plot and pretty much all are great entertainment (I enjoy watching Armageddon, "I don't care if they are physically perfect, can they survive a space launch?" Physician: "I don't understand how they even survived the tests!").
An ICBM is an impressive weapon. Launch vehicle with huge flame and lots of smoke, screams through the lower atmosphere at incredible high Q. Vaults halfway around the globe, incoming warhead meteors through the atmosphere. And then BOOM, a city reduced to a smoldering flat piece of ash. Now take that same bomb and add more speed to put it into orbit. Hmmm, ain't that easy. Will need to add another stage or modify for longer burn time and reduce mass of final item to put into orbit. Darn it, Tsiolkovsky developed that equation and nobody can figure out how to violate it (it is based on conservation of momentum so lots of luck repealing that). OK let's take that ICBM that is made for orbit insertion to the next level: Getting out of earth orbit. I think this is where it gets really hard as it seems need something of really high ISP. I was reading someplace (I don't quite know how to work the Rocket Eqn so I base this on what I read), need pressure fed booster meaning turbo pump for a LH2/LOX rocket as only that fuel/oxidizer combination has ISP good enough to get something of significant mass beyond earth orbit. So all this talk about firing nukes at a rogue asteroid is bankrupt as the SSTO. But I guess that don't stop people from generating PPTs and sensationalize articles.
Hey, are we due for another pack of asteroid/meteor movies? Perhaps some new creative angles instead of the gimmick like secret USAF spaceplane to the rescue has pretty much worn its course since it was introduced in Marooned.
mfwright@batnet.com
Another ( 'Some Scientists'.... ) post with minimal information content...
Give a link to online orbital/solar system programs to calculate how long to target, how big a payload/launcher, and how hard all of this would be.
Real numbers.... not just vague hand-waving. Stories in the dark around a campfire have better information.
The Moon would be the best place to station a response base ( low gravity well... ) as well as observation telescopes... IMO - IAAPhysicist...
Rockets, warheads, people, telescopes, linear accelerators, lasers, tasers, masers, and steam-cannons, solar power,
food and air supplied regularly....
In fact - lets see a cost/time/resource analysis for all of this NOT DONE BY A MILITARY CONTRACTOR!
Also needed: really expensive crowbars to remove politicians heads from their a*s*e......
So maybe my grandkids can have some peace of mind....
now get off my lawn!
In the last few years this asteroid-doomsday-talk really took off.
Sure there is a risk, but maybe not higher than a worldwide pandemic, a nuclear war, or Odin sending a flood.
- Or do THEY know something? Like, that the risk suddenly got higher by something WE did...??!!
That's when it dawned on me:
It is the outer planets that protect us from space debris. And Neil DegrasseTyson removed Pluto!
Nuke+sat will be maneuvered to the "proper" side of the asteroid in order to evaporate serious amounts of matter from the asteroid. This in turn will generate sufficient impulse to change the trajectory of the asteroid. Earth will be spared.
The problem with you Americans is that you are even too stupid to listen your own scientists video presentations. Or maybe you are too stupid to find them on your own video service called youtube.
greetings
Ivan
To do that, search for "Ivan" in this page. He will explain it* to you imbecile.
* how to deflect massive asteroids using nukes.
This intelligence will also explain to you that from a certain asteroid size ONLY nukes have sufficient energy to get the job done.
First educate yourself: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=asteroid+deflection+nasa
Then, imagine detonating the nuke right next to the asteroid. This will use asteroid material to generate a massive vapor impulse, like rocket exhaust. Just much, much more powerful.
This will not blow the asteroid into pieces, but deflect the trajectory sufficiently in order to generate a new, harmless-for-humans trajectory.
Comprendre ?
If only everybody adhered to Communist or Mohammedist orthodoxy, then we would have paradise on earth.
You Commie-Mohammedics would also "change the conscience of asteroids", I assume. So that they change their trajectory off earth.
Or would your "god do that" ????
I tell you something: God gaves us nukes, rockets and deep space satellites, so that we can alter the trajectory of even massive asteroids in order to avoid planet earth. We are supposed to use them, should the need arise.
And he threw Communism and Mohammedism onto earth in order to test the moral capabilities of resistance in us humans.
Maybe you educate yourself before your emit your boilerplate propaganda:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=asteroid+deflection+nasa
Please search for "Ivan" on this page in order to correct your false reasoning. Nukes are indeed the best tool for deflecting asteroids.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=asteroid+deflection+nasa
Your government has an agency called "NASA" and they employ some of these phy-wizardos and they have figured how to do it.
Even better, they have filmed a video explaining the whole problem and the entire solution. Which indeed requires nukes depending on trajectory and mass of asteroid.
You only need to find the video:https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=asteroid+deflection+nasa
If only mankind would be smart enough to operate a search bar....
This is a place in Siberia, hit by an asteroid and it had the power of a large nuke explosion.
If that kind of thing would hit New York, London or St.Louis, we would be talking about millions killed.
And the Tunguska sucker definitely is not the biggest asteroid around.
Finally, just recently Siberian humans dogded the bullet from an asteroid sucker estimated to have been as powerful as a nuke explosion. Thank god it spent most of its energy on a "flat" trajectory inside the atmosphere. It was still powerful enough to generate a supersonic shockwave blowing out thousands of windows.
Sooner or later a kilometer-sized thing will impact earth. That thing will probably take 99% of humans or even 100% with it. So it is unlikely, but quite total.
Defense is to take existing nukes and existing sat technology, "fuse" it and change the asteroid trajectory.
Cost is almost literally the US. DoD postage budget, because most of the technologies are readily in existence.
You do not aim to disintegrate. You aim to use the asteroid material in order to evaporate some of it and thereby generate thrust. The thrust will put the asteroid on a "safe" trajectory relative to earth.
This means existing nukes can successfully deflect even very big asteroids (several kms sized). Beyond that size, we have to continue to pray.
Are you really so ignorant, boy ?
Sure we will only use the warhead and fuse it to voyager. The ICBM itself is to capable of hitting the asteroid. Rather ArianeV+voyager+nuke.
was not a physicist. Neither was Stalin. Neither was Mao.
The social scientists are the most evil people on this planet.
....are up to the job for *most* asteroids. Educate yourself on youtube. It is all out there.
.... once ruled planet earth. Our forefathers THEN were mouse-like creatures, but already mammals.
Something happened which killed all those big dinos. Only the small creatures survived, including small dinos, which we now call "birds".
It is entirely plausibly that earth was hit by an asteroid, which threw up so much vapor and dust into higher atmosphere that the food supply for the big dinos was severely reduced. At least, so goes a major hypothesis.
Just because this did not happen for the last 10000 years (for which we have *some* records), does not mean it will not happen in the next few years or in the next 1000, 10000, 100000 years.
Do YOU and YOUR FAMILY want to go the way of the big dinosaurs ?
Google for Chelyabinsk Asteroid. Sure as hell it was a near-desaster for millions.
This post is spam, links to the "real" article that true to get you to "answer a survey question" to actually read it. Nice going slashdump.
This post is spam, links to the "real" article that true to get you to "answer a survey question" to actually read it. Nice going slashdump.