Asteroid-busting

[Ryujin]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=284347

Nuke-armed space bots to bust killer asteroids
Tuesday Aug 7 12:00 AEST
By ninemsn staff

US space agency NASA has plans for three types of Armageddon-style space robots designed to protect the earth from killer asteroids.

But unlike the movie Armageddon, where a crew of plucky scientists and drillers plant a bomb on the surface of an asteroid, NASA's plan has no room for human heroics.

Flight International reports that NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre has created plans for the asteroid-busting bots based on a study of the Apophis asteroid, which will pass close to earth in April 2029.

In their first design, an 8.9m long "Cradle" spacecraft would launch six interceptor vehicles armed with 1.2MT B83 nuclear warheads at the asteroid.

But the warheads would not blow the asteroid into pieces. Instead, NASA would detonate the bombs close to the killer rock, turning some of its surface into expanding plasma and deflecting its course away from the earth.

"The Hollywood scenario of shooting several intercontinental ballistic missiles at the incoming rock is fraught with danger. It would probably not be sufficient to prevent impact, raising the additional hazard of radioactive materials from the blast being introduced into the atmosphere," the report says.

A second, equally sexy option would see a "solar collector" robot craft maintain a flight path close to the asteroid.

The robot would focus sunlight through a 100m-diameter "thruster" umbrella onto the asteroid's surface, melting part of it to generate thrust and deflect it away from the earth.

In the third option, a set of missiles would use their own kinetic energy to smack the rock off its course.

The asteroid-busting bots would be launched off NASA's proposed Ares V cargo launch vehicle.

[Antares]

... "syntax error. Set new target".
All for a good cause, I'm sure, but I am not feeling good vibes about launching robo-nukes. Not because they might go crazy, but because if something goes wrong and that thing detonates in midair, exactly as it is said about using ICBMs.

[razgriz]

worse comes to worse they obliterate the moon, wait that would be bad

[wing zero alpha]

If the guidance computer for these things is codenamed "SkyNet", then I'm going to assume the worst .

[razgriz]

LOL no i think its called Skyguard, but to-may-to to-mah-to either way im not too sure about giving humanity's fate to machines. id rather a brave crew went up and sacrificed themselves for our survival, lol just like the movies

[OpMegs]

This kind of thing is really asking for catastrophic glitches. I'd hope they aren't thinking of using a fully autonomous robot, but rather more like a remote controlled "droid" sort of.

[razgriz]

okay well if we got R2D2 up there, then im really not worried

[Nagato21]

I am more worried about some nuts who might want to use the nuke bots, beside I doubt the Russians and China will accept the creation of such weapon, imagine the consequences it might have on the international scene, an orbital weapon armed with nuke is a direct violation of anti nuclear treaty, even if it is supposed to help prevent us from being blown to pieces.

[DAG101]

LOL no i think its called Skyguard,

Should be SpaceGuard, Lol

[fullupneon]

Wow, just wow!

I saw these exact same plans on the science channel.

And I say good for the guy who had the idea for the solar collector because at first he was laughed at because of that idea but now his idea might just bear fruit.

Speaking of which, does anyone remember that one crackpot idea in Armageddon to use the solar winds and a huge canopy to "float" the asteroid away?

[G.Squirrel]

I'd hope they aren't thinking of using a fully autonomous robot, but rather more like a remote controlled "droid" sort of

A droid is a fully autonomous and self-aware robot.

I'm wondering how much something like this is going to cost. I don't think we really have a budget to work on here, unless NASA is getting help from other countries.

[Nagato21]

A couple of millions dollars maybe, fortunately solar sail is supposed to be cheap, the only problem is to find an adequate protection for the sail against space debris and other cosmic trouble.

[razgriz]

how big does that sail need to be though in order for it to catch enough solar wind to move an asteroid size object? i guess the good thing about most proposed solar sails is that they can be greatly compacted prior to deployment

[Antares]

Why are we even thinking of a wussy sail when we could blow stuff up with nukes? That's so lame.
Seriously though, the budget issue is a valid one, and considering that attaching the sail would likely require more finesse than a bomb-mission, it could turn out to be harder if not more expensive. I don't think they're operating on a very long time-window either, so they might go for the boom either way. I also echo Nagato21's thoughts that putting aside the risk of the nuke causing problems of its own, the whole idea of nukes in orbit/space is not that well received geopolitically.

[CHASER]

Thing is about those sails, rockets and other methods of pushing the asteroid away by strapping something on them, is that they're not designed to be powerful. At least, as far as anything I've seen around those sorts of plans. It was always detecting it early and strapping the contraption on to slowly and steadily change its path, same with some sort of more ranged laser/lens.

As for nuke-carrying robots... I'd be more worried about someone turning them on before they launch into space and have them run around convinced Earth is a meteor. O.o

[baka]

Thank you NASA, for all your stupid ideas.

First off, the Ares V does not have the power to bring anything useful anywhere near an asteroid anywhere near in time for it to do anything good. People have to realize that incoming meteorites are rather fast, so catching up with them is going to be a problem.. The last rocket that did have the power was the Saturn V, but it's plans where thrown away in a spring cleaning exercise. Hurray for NASA...

Another thing is, less people are actively looking for incoming meteorites than there are working in an average McDonalds. Seeing that the sky is a big place the chance that we see a doomsday meteorite coming is close to zero. Probably the first warning we will get is the meteorite starting to glow as it enters the atmosphere. A second or two later it will hit the Earth.

And even if we see it coming we won't know if it will really hit us or pass closeby a couple of weeks before it actually does. I dare anyone to rescue the planet on such short notice.

The Solar System idea is fun by the way. The nuke stuff is just silly and woefully ineffective.