Alternative Solutions to Deflecting Asteroids or Comets From Earth

[drakken1985]

As most now accept an astroid or comet ended the reign of the dinosaurs. Hollywood's idea of dealing with the threat is to fly crews to the object and blow it up. NASA's solution involves mass drivers, impact airbags of gases and dust, lasers, solar saiks and etc.
**Throwing out Hollywood's solutions for lacking in reality of physics and current technologies and dispelling NASA's solutions for being costly and time consuming (if Earth is surprised without enough warning time) Perhaps an other solution combining the two thoughts is possible.
***Place into orbit 4 satelight "six guns" along the equator some 26,000 miles (Clarks Belt). Each satelite would have 6 or so nuclear weapons. The first missile would be a megaton or so in scale. The warhead would be placed near the tail section of a large steel rod of about half a meter in diameter about 20 meters or so long which would act as a peritrator dart much like the that of the M1 Abramas tank round. It would be launched 24-72 hours first before the other 5 lesser nuclear missiles; it would impact just off center of the incoming body, penitrate to a max depth before blowing up, hopefully deflecting some or most of the mass to miss the Earth. The follow up strike of the remaining lesser nuclear warheads could then strike at smaller, but dangerious objects still on an impact course.
****With four such satelites at least 2 of them would be in a possition to target an object. Even if the Asteriod is a rubble pile of lesser objects, the primary strike and its follow up strike of one satelites should break the loose gravitation bounds. And if need be the second satelight who would be in possion could act as insurance.
*****Current land based missiles being the final, last ditch effort for any (hopefully much smaller objects) survivors.

 

[tony873004]

The problem with breaking it up that that close to Earth impact is that it doesn't give the pieces enough time to spread apart far enough that the majority will miss Earth.

Instead of impacting as a single object, they impact as multiple objects, but the total mass is the same. And unless you can change the total mass that impacts Earth, you won't be changing any of the inputs to the kinetic energy formula.

You've got to blast it early enough that the fragments distance themselves to where their spacings are greater than an Earth diameter, hence we get hit with very little of the original asteroid.

 

[drakken1985]

You are indeed correct, my theory does require some element of advanced warning. Of course if sentry satelites where posted far enough out beyond the crital radious for enough deflect to occure. Problem is what would such a radius be, and how many sentry satelites would be needed.

 

[dav2008]

The problem with breaking it up that that close to Earth impact is that it doesn't give the pieces enough time to spread apart far enough that the majority will miss Earth.

Instead of impacting as a single object, they impact as multiple objects, but the total mass is the same. And unless you can change the total mass that impacts Earth, you won't be changing any of the inputs to the kinetic energy formula.

You've got to blast it early enough that the fragments distance themselves to where their spacings are greater than an Earth diameter, hence we get hit with very little of the original asteroid.

A lot of tiny pieces would burn up in the atmosphere though.

 

[LURCH]

Many people believe that the threat from having multiple sattelites armed with nuclear warheads orbitting the Earth would be far greater than the threat of an impact event. Perhaps if the sattelites were put in orbit around the Moon, though. That way, no one is worried that the program is just a trick to get the nukes in orbit and then fire on an enemy quickly enough to avoid a counter-strike. Any hostile move with the weapons would take days to reach Earth; plenty of time to react. Any accidental decay of orbit will be falling on the surface of the Moon, not the Earth.

Launch is still a problem. Final assembly, as well as refinement of radioactive materials should be done at a lunar base, so no refined radioactive materials would be exposed to the risks of launch. Lunar orbit would also give an advantage in kenetic state, allowing a shorter time-to intercept.

 

[drakken1985]

Considering todays deployement systems--and cost--orbital nukes are not a viable delievery system for strategic or tactical use. The CLarks belt is the safes orbit zone around the Earth with limited orbital decay.

**But as a defense against impact strikes--something realistic needs to be inplay otherwise perhaps the dinosaurse will not be the only victems in Earth's history