Why Don't We Have An Asteroid Interceptor?

[jyl]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Getting a nuke into space isn't exactly safe, if something goes wrong on take off all of Florida gets a dirty bomb.

The next launch which had been scheduled for after the Challenger disaster in 1986 was to be a nuke powered military satellite. We would have lost more than a school teacher in that one.

Nuclear bombs don't get triggered by fire, explosions, etc. Air force bombers carrying nuclear weapons have crashed, no mushroom. Plutonium contamination, maybe.

[jamesnmlaw]

Meh, it's been a good run.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by jamesnmlaw

Meh, it's been a good run.

But certainly not a great run...

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

I have no doubt we could figure out a way to do it... we put a man on the moon and robots on Mars and stuff like that.

Question is can we stop trying to kill each other long enough to make it happen (and divert all the money we invest in doing all that killin).

I heard on the radio this morning (so it must be true) it would take 3-5 years to plan something like this.

The problem with trying to do this with a nuclear weapon, it is not a precision device. We would be better off putting a VASMIR engine on the rock and making a course adjustment.

Problem 1 - Not much thrust, so it takes a while to make even small path changes
Problem 2 - They need power

[Sunroof]

Ever notice that they keep showing the movie DEEP IMPACT all the time on TV? Probably one of the best depictions of what an asteroid could do to our planet and cause the Extinction Level Event (ELE) for humanity. Mankind cannot stop a rock the size of Manhattan from striking the planet. Superman or the Federation of Planets and the USS Enterprise have yet to show up to save our pathetic skins!!

Anyways, why would anyone let us know that one is on the way to hit us? Imagine the panic.
No well funded disaster preper would ever survive. Nature will destroy us one way or the other.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by red-beard

The problem with trying to do this with a nuclear weapon, it is not a precision device. We would be better off putting a VASMIR engine on the rock and making a course adjustment.

Problem 1 - Not much thrust, so it takes a while to make even small path changes
Problem 2 - They need power

A "solar wind sail" for them, a big azz cork/drill for Yellowstone, a BIGLY tsunami wall all up and down the Atlantic, a bunch of sand for Las Vegas beach, a....oh crap...

We're domed I tell ya ...enjoy today, I'm gonna !

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by jyl

Nuclear bombs don't get triggered by fire, explosions, etc. Air force bombers carrying nuclear weapons have crashed, no mushroom. Plutonium contamination, maybe.

Yes, Florida might glow in the dark for quite a while.

And there is that; what goes up must come down thing.

I think the Russians irradiated some of the Canadian wilderness a few years back with a little cold war project they forgot about. Re-entry was thought to vaporize it completely, apparently not.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by KC911

A "solar wind sail" for them

More likely to work than a nuclear weapon and no energy cost. It might even be able to be deployed remotely. The problem, you need to identify the problem well in advance.

Unfortunately we must identify asteroids visually. Most asteroids are low albedo, they don't reflect light well. Radar is not effective. We can use very narrow beam radar once we know it is there. But to do a wide region, you need a very powerful source. With the sun, we have a great light source!

[Por_sha911]

Why Don't We Have An Asteroid Interceptor?
Because the fake science in Hollywood breaks more laws of science than there is room to list.
To that I always point out that the best way to stop a zombie invasion is to remember that zombies don't exist.
Move along. Nothing to see here.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by red-beard

The problem with trying to do this with a nuclear weapon, it is not a precision device. We would be better off putting a VASMIR engine on the rock and making a course adjustment.

Problem 1 - Not much thrust, so it takes a while to make even small path changes
Problem 2 - They need power

I'm not advocating a nuclear weapon... only that if we put you brainy guys to it you would figure something out.

Heck, we got to the moon with computers that were less powerful that the average cell phone. If we put our minds to it I'm sure we would figure something out.

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Why Don't We Have An Asteroid Interceptor?
Because the fake science in Hollywood breaks more laws of science than there is room to list.
To that I always point out that the best way to stop a zombie invasion is to remember that zombies don't exist.
Move along. Nothing to see here.

Um, but it is a fact that the earth has been hit by asteroids in the past... and going without sunshine for a year or two would put a kink in our plans.

[vash]

i think if i earth shattering meteor is gonna smack...no SMITE us down.

i would file it under "it is what it is" and go and steal a ferrari.

[flipper35]

So, if there was a hole in said rock and we but a reactor down there and let it go critical and then the hole would work as a thrust nozzle for all the vaporized material the rock would both lose weight and generate thrust from said reaction.

To do this we would have get get someone there, try to fashion a rudimentary lathe...wait, wrong movie.

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Um, but it is a fact that the earth has been hit by asteroids in the past... and going without sunshine for a year or two would put a kink in our plans.

No argument. The problem is that NOTHING we have in todays technology can do what Hollywood sells you. The big screen fixes are all fantasy at this time. So what can we do if impact is eminent? Get to a safe place underground, squat down as low as possible, put your head between your knees, look up, and kiss your azz goodbye.
Remember that no matter what we do, the mortality rate world wide is 100%. Everyone dies. Just some sooner, some later, some know approximately when, some are totally surprised. Either way, you are still moved to eternity.

[Hugh R]

I have a gererator, so I'm cool.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

No argument. The problem is that NOTHING we have in todays technology can do what Hollywood sells you. The big screen fixes are all fantasy at this time.

So... are you telling me that can't do facial recognition off a reflection in a hubcap from a traffic cam 100 yards away?

[Por_sha911]

^ It depends on whether you have your tin foil hat on at the time.

Originally Posted by Hugh R

I have a gererator, so I'm cool.

Is this a new secret technology that protects you from asteroid blasts or are you saying you will use this "gererator" to change the path of the asteroid? Is it anything like the Turbo Encabulator?

[wdfifteen]

We do have an asteroid interceptor. It has a gravitational field to attract them, then BOOM!
It's called earth.

[GH85Carrera]

Of course Hollywood makes it look easy. The technology to leave earth orbit is something only a few countries have ever done and they are just little satellites. To get a crew of humans to accelerate out and slow back down and land on a asteroid is many decades away right now. Even if they were willing to go on a one only way trip. To get a satellite to orbit and land on a comet that we knew was coming many years before it arrived took years of flight time.

Sending humans to an comet or asteroid is going to take several new technologies that have not even been dreamed of yet in in a theoretical paper.

Until we can change the laws of physics it just can't be done.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

We do have an asteroid interceptor. It has a gravitational field to attract them, then BOOM!
It's called earth.

That's Plan B

Plan A is the moon

Plan C is Chuck

[Por_sha911]

I thought I posted this earlier but I can't find it so, its time to resurrect a classic


edit: I found it posted in a thread asking about a TT Straps for 3 Blade or more Rotor Head whatever that is. Oh well, its worth watching again.

The point is that the Turbo Encabulator will work in space as well as here on earth.