#2 2009-10-18 01:33:30
Nice....made me whimsical for home.
Right folks, clean those weapons and zero those sights; it's time to keep the nasties off the grass.
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#3 2009-10-18 02:22:49
4 kilotons... yeah. That's a good size to impact a populated area. We could use one of those to encourage the proper funding of the space program.
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#4 2009-10-18 10:05:53
What's the space program going to do about it? We can't even spot most of them and we get up to one a day close to earth orbit in those sizes. Plus, how do you put enough ergs into space to significantly alter the vector of an object like that at those velocities? We can barely get a tin can into orbit much less race out, slow down, turn around, race back, match vectors and then do something about it.
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#5 2009-10-18 11:00:35
GooberMcNutly wrote:
What's the space program going to do about it? We can't even spot most of them and we get up to one a day close to earth orbit in those sizes.
Currently, yes. This is the biggest problem we have at the moment.
Plus, how do you put enough ergs into space to significantly alter the vector of an object like that at those velocities?
Interceptor devices sitting in orbit at a convenient place like, say, the ISS. The general consensus is that a relatively small spacecraft (<1 ton) impacting against the side of a good sized asteroid (est. impact: 880 megatons)
We can barely get a tin can into orbit
Horsefeathers. Delta IV Heavy can put 11.5 tons into geostationary orbit. SpaceX is launching the first Falcon 9 later this year, which will be able to take 16 tons to GTO.
much less race out, slow down, turn around, race back, match vectors and then do something about it.
The Japs landed on an asteroid and took back off. It took them a while, yes, but as a proof of concept it's compelling.
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#6 2009-10-19 07:48:45
OK, so we can put a school bus into space if we have 3 years advance warning. Now, what do you propose to fill your school bus with?
An ICBM (the Peacekeeper for example) weighs about 100 tons. The Trident II weighs about 60 tons. While each warhead can be as little as 300 lbs, you gotta boost it from orbit to the rock.
Then let's assume you crack the rock. Then, instead of a slug, you have buckshot headed our way. What's going to push them far enough apart to give you something that will burn up in the atmosphere?
Or maybe you want to shove it out of the way. Just remember that F=Ma and your M is pretty damn big.
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