You don't use an off-the-shelf nuke; you use a small nuke wrapped in polystyrene foam and tungstein (more detailed specs in book) which creates a nice FAST cloud of pusher gas which transfers thrust to the rock.
Ideally, you put an Orion-style pusher plate on the rock to maximize the energy transfer, or just land an Orion-style ship (one design is launchable with a single Saturn-V or the expendable variant of a Shuttle) on the asteroid, complete with its pusher plate, 'thrust device' (AKA bomb) stores, barracks, hydroponics system, deep freeze, MTV dish, MP3 jukebox and all the other mod cons.
The KATU link is gone... here are alternatives:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2002/11/12/4200- ap.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/12/10363086 82032.html
Slashdot Mirror
You don't use an off-the-shelf nuke; you use a small nuke wrapped in polystyrene foam and tungstein (more detailed specs in book) which creates a nice FAST cloud of pusher gas which transfers thrust to the rock.
Ideally, you put an Orion-style pusher plate on the rock to maximize the energy transfer, or just land an Orion-style ship (one design is launchable with a single Saturn-V or the expendable variant of a Shuttle) on the asteroid, complete with its pusher plate, 'thrust device' (AKA bomb) stores, barracks, hydroponics system, deep freeze, MTV dish, MP3 jukebox and all the other mod cons.
Read the book.
The KATU link is gone... here are alternatives: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2002/11/12/4200- ap.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/12/10363086 82032.html