StarDestroyer.Net BBS

just a question....

why isn't Lord Wong responding to my PM's anymore?

Consider: several hundred people X one or two questions = probable insanity

I don't answer most of my PM's lately (kind of busy lately, what with some emergencies at work, a white-supremacist invasion, the Darkstar debate, etc).

Darth Wong wrote:I don't answer most of my PM's lately (kind of busy lately, what with some emergencies at work, a white-supremacist invasion, the Darkstar debate, etc).

Yeah, gotcha, should've caught that myself

BTW, yes I've actually recieved a PM about it (thanks aeoius )...that crying face was meant to be sarcastic

Heh heh heh...couldn't resist sending one over to ya RayCav.

What sort of emergencies at work? Trying to figure out how to stop incoming asteroids that will destroy all life on Earth?

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:What sort of emergencies at work? Trying to figure out how to stop incoming asteroids that will destroy all life on Earth?

Fighter mounted lasers triggering a small nuclear device is the clear and obvious solution.

Sea Skimmer wrote:

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:What sort of emergencies at work? Trying to figure out how to stop incoming asteroids that will destroy all life on Earth?

Fighter mounted lasers triggering a small nuclear device is the clear and obvious solution.

Ahem. A LARGE nuclear device.

Darth Wong wrote:

Sea Skimmer wrote:

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:What sort of emergencies at work? Trying to figure out how to stop incoming asteroids that will destroy all life on Earth?

Fighter mounted lasers triggering a small nuclear device is the clear and obvious solution.

Ahem. A LARGE nuclear device.

Yes of course, a large nuclear device, which will be buried inside of a comet to knock it onto an intercepting course with the asteroid. That should work prefectly

Sea Skimmer wrote:Yes of course, a large nuclear device, which will be buried inside of a comet to knock it onto an intercepting course with the asteroid. That should work prefectly

Stand-off explosion, actually. Detonate the nuke to one side of the asteroid. The intense ionizing radiation burst boils off the surface of the asteroid on that side, which acts like a rocket and pushes it aside, thus changing its trajectory. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

I saw on some asteroid shows that if there was one headed for us we couldn't do anything to stop it. Is this true or not? Do we have enough nukes to do what you said?

The trick is not nuclear armament; it is TIME. We need very early warning of an asteroid headed our way; preferably years. This way, we need only nudge it a tiny fraction of a degree to make it miss us.

This would also give us time to develop appropriate delivery devices; you can't just shoot an ICBM at an asterod which is millions of kilometres away; ICBM's don't have that kind of propulsive power. Similarly, the Space Shuttle isn't going to get the job done; we would need a remote-pilotable or well-guided missile which carries a large nuclear payload and has sufficient thruster power to reach the incoming rock and detonate with such precise timing and location that it accomplishes the objective. On short notice, I presume we would have to design and build something and then deploy it from orbit, presumably by taking it up there on the Space Shuttle or some similar orbital launch vehicle.

If it detonates directly ahead of the rock, it accomplishes nothing. If it detonates behind the rock, it accomplishes nothing. If it hits the rock, it won't even detonate properly. If we assume a +/- 5 km margin of error, it has to fly by the rock and detonate with 0.1 millisecond accuracy to efficiently redirect the asteroid.

Obviously, it would be good to have two cracks at this, so it would be nice to catch it on an earlier orbit where you have another year or two to correct and try again if you fuck up.

Darth Wong wrote:

Sea Skimmer wrote:Yes of course, a large nuclear device, which will be buried inside of a comet to knock it onto an intercepting course with the asteroid. That should work prefectly

Stand-off explosion, actually. Detonate the nuke to one side of the asteroid. The intense ionizing radiation burst boils off the surface of the asteroid on that side, which acts like a rocket and pushes it aside, thus changing its trajectory. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

I known, but that would actually work in real life, and does't require combined ideas for multiple bad anti physics movies into a impossibul plan.

Darth Wong wrote:The trick is not nuclear armament; it is TIME. We need very early warning of an asteroid headed our way; preferably years. This way, we need only nudge it a tiny fraction of a degree to make it miss us.

This would also give us time to develop appropriate delivery devices; you can't just shoot an ICBM at an asterod which is millions of kilometres away; ICBM's don't have that kind of propulsive power. Similarly, the Space Shuttle isn't going to get the job done; we would need a remote-pilotable or well-guided missile which carries a large nuclear payload and has sufficient thruster power to reach the incoming rock and detonate with such precise timing and location that it accomplishes the objective. On short notice, I presume we would have to design and build something and then deploy it from orbit, presumably by taking it up there on the Space Shuttle or some similar orbital launch vehicle.

If it detonates directly ahead of the rock, it accomplishes nothing. If it detonates behind the rock, it accomplishes nothing. If it hits the rock, it won't even detonate properly. If we assume a +/- 5 km margin of error, it has to fly by the rock and detonate with 0.1 millisecond accuracy to efficiently redirect the asteroid.

Obviously, it would be good to have two cracks at this, so it would be nice to catch it on an earlier orbit where you have another year or two to correct and try again if you fuck up.

The US and Russian militaries and civilian space agency's had a conference on this a few years ago. The plan called for using a 9-megaton B-53 bomb or a B-61 dial a yeild if the target was small. This would be launched by a Russian space booster to do just what you have described. IIRC they figured they needed at the very minimal six months of prep time to build the delivery vehicle for the actual interception.

Sea Skimmer wrote:

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:What sort of emergencies at work? Trying to figure out how to stop incoming asteroids that will destroy all life on Earth?

Fighter mounted lasers triggering a small nuclear device is the clear and obvious solution.

planetary shield

The US and Russian militaries and civilian space agency's had a conference on this a few years ago. The plan called for using a 9-megaton B-53 bomb or a B-61 dial a yeild if the target was small. This would be launched by a Russian space booster to do just what you have described. IIRC they figured they needed at the very minimal six months of prep time to build the delivery vehicle for the actual interception.

One less catastrophie to worry about. LOL

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:One less catastrophie to worry about. LOL

Uh, no. We've had big rocks streak by us with only a few weeks warning. Just enough time to put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.

I like the planetary shield idea. Or, we could build a really BFG. Whichever.[/b]

Cyril wrote:I like the planetary shield idea. Or, we could build a really BFG. Whichever.[/b]

BFG?

Big Fucking Gun (from Doom)

Uh, no. We've had big rocks streak by us with only a few weeks warning. Just enough time to put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.

D'OH!

If a large asteroid is going ot hit us, we probably won't find it until 3 weeks before impact, even if telescopes could spot it several months in advance, like in Armageddon. If it's going to miss us, it's put back on course by a comet, even though space is so vast, something like that would never happen. I say the best thing we can do to prevent an asteroid impact is to pollute. Drive a lot. Burn coal. Gie cows beans. Actually, that won't work, because even if it's vaporized, it will still be deposited in the atmosphere. There goes Bush's asteroid prevention concept.

Or maybe develop BFLGs.....Big Fucking Laser Guns....which he seems fond of funding....