Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by FBM » Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:12 am

Gawdzilla Sama wrote:
FBM wrote:
Gawdzilla Sama wrote:Ayaan just reminded me of one plan, put a large mass near the problem and let gravity alter its course. Again, you need time for this to work.
:rtft:
What a novel concept.

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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:13 am

:FIO:
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by FBM » Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:14 am

Gawdzilla Sama wrote: :FIO:

:fullmoon:
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by Sean Hayden » Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:16 am

Space lassos, project Asteroid Wrangler.

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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by FBM » Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:38 am

Sean Hayden wrote:Space lassos, project Asteroid Wrangler.
Or something like a fish net stretched between two rockets.
"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." ~ H. L. Mencken

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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by Blind groper » Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:49 am

Gawdzilla Sama wrote:They aimed Hubble at a spot in space for 100 friggin' hours.
Not a spot. They aimed it at a region of space. For the asteroid deflection, you would have to aim a mirror at an unbelievably tiny bit of space. Like pointing a needle at one specific atom, and not being permitted to let it point at the atom next door, and holding that precision for months. Perhaps a sufficiently advanced civilisation might do it, but not ours. Not for a long time.

You would have to start the deflection with the mirror while the asteroid was months away from Earth - meaning tens of millions of miles. The target would be totally invisible except through a very powerful telescope, and the light would be required to specifically impact just one half of that target. I think you underestimate the difficulty.
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by FBM » Sun Mar 24, 2013 2:56 am

It would only need to be slowed down enough to make it miss that tiny speck of a third stone from the sun. Re-direction isn't required.
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by Blind groper » Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:06 am

FBM

You are talking of something massing millions of tonnes and travelling at 11 km per second plus. And you suggest that a little pressure from a beam of light might slow it down?????? The inertia involved is too massive and the force from light is too tiny, even over a period of months.
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by FBM » Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:12 am

Just stating that physically re-direction isn't the only answer. It is the easier answer, though. :tup:
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by FBM » Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:13 am

Or we could just speed up the earth. :coffee:
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by Ayaan » Sun Mar 24, 2013 3:31 am

Blind groper wrote:FBM

You are talking of something massing millions of tonnes and travelling at 11 km per second plus. And you suggest that a little pressure from a beam of light might slow it down?????? The inertia involved is too massive and the force from light is too tiny, even over a period of months.
I don't know. Solar wind (stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun) have been proposed as a power source for space expeditions. Light is just another form of energy - look at what we can do with lasers. It's not like we have to stop the thing dead in it's tracks, just nudge it enough to divert it away from a collision course with our planet.
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by Blind groper » Sun Mar 24, 2013 4:25 am

Ayaan

In terms of energy, it would be easier to divert its course slightly, rather than slow it down. The momentum to be overcome is awesome!

Solar winds, of course, have vastly more energy than beams of light.
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by JimC » Sun Mar 24, 2013 5:39 am

Blind groper wrote:Ayaan

In terms of energy, it would be easier to divert its course slightly, rather than slow it down. The momentum to be overcome is awesome!

Solar winds, of course, have vastly more energy than beams of light.
The only light-based possibility I can see would be tethering a huge, light-weight foil-composite light-sail to an asteroid, and using a space based laser to push the light sail, which then applies a force to the asteroid.

We are talking many, many square kilometres to get a large enough change in momentum. Per photon of reflected light, the delta v is minute...
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by FBM » Sun Mar 24, 2013 5:40 am

Good idea, that laser. :tup:
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Re: Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

Post by JimC » Sun Mar 24, 2013 5:42 am

FBM wrote:Good idea, that laser. :tup:
Why hasn't the UN appointed me as a resident genius on an immense salary, already! :lay:

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