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Science

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)

4. Very fix-able

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Tue May 12, 2015, 08:49 PM

May 2015

If it's far enough away, only a relatively small nudge is needed to change it out our path. Bomb, crash a spacecraft, or even the gravitational pull from a spacecraft parked near it.

And if it's big enough to cause havoc, we'll likely see it when it's far enough away.

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Asteroid defense: any feasible ideas or we are just doomed theoretically ? [View all] steve2470 May 2015 OP

It's like cancer: early detection is key. trotsky May 2015 #1

ignorant question here steve2470 May 2015 #2

Possibly - high powered lasers could vaporize a side of it, and propel it in the other direction. trotsky May 2015 #6

All I could think to do would be to hit an incoming asteroid with a nuclear warhead Maedhros May 2015 #3

Very fix-able MannyGoldstein May 2015 #4

A NASA program suggested paint one side black, the other white csziggy May 2015 #7

Like this? MannyGoldstein May 2015 #8

Yes - exactly! n/t csziggy May 2015 #9

Just getting close enough to paint it, will probably alter its course. immoderate May 2015 #11

True - I've read that the course can be altered by traveling close csziggy May 2015 #12

Not sure what you would call that. immoderate May 2015 #15

the biggest nuclear warhead we can build... krispos42 May 2015 #5

If we can encounter it when it's 100 million miles away (roughly 1 AU, just past Mars) immoderate May 2015 #10

The B612 Foundation bananas May 2015 #13

NASA NEO Program bananas May 2015 #14

2003 letter to congress bananas May 2015 #16

US space policy and planetary defense bananas May 2015 #17