Nasa chief Charles Bolden's advice on asteroid

[Jason]

Lasers are all well and good.. until yu phase them! Yarhhg! \\\\\\\


What are e atalking aboot>?

[FBM]

Egregious oversight on their part, I say! And their loss...

[JimC]

Lasers are all well and good.. until yu phase them! Yarhhg! \\\\\\\


What are e atalking aboot>?

One more joint, and a very strong cup of coffee, and you will be in phase with the discussion again...

[FBM]

OK, expanding on the laser idea. Suppose we send up a laser with a solar collector on it, position it to zap one side of the asteroid. No need to land on the asteroid or even get too terribly close to it, really, since the laser would travel so much more efficiently in space.

[JimC]

OK, expanding on the laser idea. Suppose we send up a laser with a solar collector on it, position it to zap one side of the asteroid. No need to land on the asteroid or even get too terribly close to it, really, since the laser would travel so much more efficiently in space.

Very interesting idea; someone who really knows their shit would have to crunch the numbers, but it definitely has possibilities. The whole aiming issue would disappear, for a start...

[Blind groper]

To Jim.

Not wanting to be nasty here, but.......

How do you intend to attach your solar sail to a tumbling asteroid?

[FBM]

OK, expanding on the laser idea. Suppose we send up a laser with a solar collector on it, position it to zap one side of the asteroid. No need to land on the asteroid or even get too terribly close to it, really, since the laser would travel so much more efficiently in space.

Very interesting idea; someone who really knows their shit would have to crunch the numbers, but it definitely has possibilities. The whole aiming issue would disappear, for a start...

What do you mean about the aiming issue, Jim? The laser would have to be aimed. You mean aiming a craft to hit the asteroid?

[Jason]

I assume he means that a lazer travels at the speed of coherent light.. thus negating all that nasty calculus in a practical application.

[Blind groper]

Aiming issue.

No. Jim means that if the laser was on a craft travelling alongside the asteroid, it would be so close that aiming would be a breeze. Shooting at a barn door at 6 feet.

The thing is, that if we can foresee the problem far enough ahead, and get a space probe alongside the asteroid some months before it reaches the Earth, lots of possibilities open up. Laser, maybe. Nuke maybe.* Ion engine maybe.



*On the nuke thing.
The best approach would be to use an Orion style ship, which uses nuke blasts as propulsion. On rendezvous, this ship rams the asteroid on its side, and attaches. Then it detonates a nuke each time the asteroid is facing the calculated direction. A dozen such blasts should measurably push the asteroid onto a different course, and the containment of those blasts by the ship's structure would prevent the asteroid breaking up. If we had less warning of the impending disaster, this method would probably be the only one that might be effective over a shorter time period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Or ... ropulsion)

[JimC]

OK, expanding on the laser idea. Suppose we send up a laser with a solar collector on it, position it to zap one side of the asteroid. No need to land on the asteroid or even get too terribly close to it, really, since the laser would travel so much more efficiently in space.

Very interesting idea; someone who really knows their shit would have to crunch the numbers, but it definitely has possibilities. The whole aiming issue would disappear, for a start...

What do you mean about the aiming issue, Jim? The laser would have to be aimed. You mean aiming a craft to hit the asteroid?

I meant the issue of aiming from Earth, instead of much, much closer to the errant asteroid from your spacecraft/laser platform...

EDIt - as BG has just said, which I didn't notice till I posted!

[FBM]

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Paint one half of teh asteroid black and teh other white. That would automatically focus teh sun's heat on one side. Not sure what that would do exactly - but something - and Dulux is cheaper than nukes.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Paint one half of teh asteroid black and teh other white. That would automatically focus teh sun's heat on one side. Not sure what that would do exactly - but something - and Dulux is cheaper than nukes.

[Blind groper]

Xamonas

As I pointed out, the asteroid will almost certainly be tumbling. That will even out and negate the effect of the paint.

[FBM]

I think we could fill some tubes with Republicans and creotards and fire them point blank into the asteroid. They'd be frozen solid by the time they got there and given their proven extraordinary density, they'd make quite an impact.