Re:If We Blow Up an Asteroid, It Might Put Itself Back Together
by lxmorj on Saturday March 09, 2019 @02:43PM
(#19348034)
Seems like two explosions would be much better. One to break up the rock, then one to disperse the cloud as widely as possible. If you don't have the payload to impart escape velocity onto the debris field with the second bomb, offset both explosions such that the combined delta-v changes the path enough to reduce or eliminate the likelihood of impact. We probably don't want irradiated sand burning up in the atmosphere at scale...
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:If We Blow Up an Asteroid, It Might Put Itself Back Together
by gshubert17 on Saturday March 09, 2019 @03:59PM
(#19348434)
Land a mass-driver on the asteroid. Escape velocity is small, perhaps a few meters per second. Scoop up bits of rock, throw them away. Throwing them in a consistent direction changes the orbit of the asteroid very slightly. With enough lead time, throwing enough mass away may reduce the size of the asteroid sufficiently or cause it to miss the earth.