Would giant air bag stop killer space rock?

[Sadico 1]

http://europe.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/08/30/asteroid.airbag/index.html

[ralphwiggum 6]

nah...

[Harnu 0]

What material would they be using to make the airbag? Wouldn't the asteroid just rip right through it?

[bogo 0]

I say earth's biggest threat is a asteroid. We aren't even preperid for it

[eh remraf 0]

Well, we have another 800 years. Might as well enjoy it.

[Harnu 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (bogo @ Aug. 31 2002,23:45)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I say earth's biggest threat is a asteroid. We aren't even preperid for it  <span id='postcolor'>

I doubt an asteroid is really on our high priority list right now

[edc 0]

I think we could defend earth from an asteriod as long as we knew about 5 or so years in advance.  I think just changing the color of the surface can change its course.

[Harnu 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (edc @ Sep. 01 2002,01:04)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I think we could defend earth from an asteriod as long as we knew about 5 or so years in advance.  I think just changing the color of the surface can change its course.<span id='postcolor'>

Changing the color? what?

Honestly I think if we ever needed to we should just launch a huge amount of nukes to intrecept it. Get the positioning right, and taadaa, it's off crouse and were safe.

[edc 0]

I heard about it a few months ago someone predicted an asteroid could come close to earth. I don't know how it would work but...

[bn880 5]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Honestly I think if we ever needed to we should just launch a huge amount of nukes to intrecept it. Get the positioning right, and taadaa, it's off crouse and were safe.<span id='postcolor'>

Well, it really depends on the size of the object or vehicle , the SCUD launcher may not do enough dammage for a large object to be !alive.

Hehhe, but seriously, our weapons are not powerful enough to affect very large masses.

[bn880 5]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (edc @ Aug. 31 2002,19:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I heard about it a few months ago someone predicted an asteroid could come close to earth. I don't know how it would work but...<span id='postcolor'>

Well they do all the time, it's the size that matters!

[cybrid 0]

800 years? why don't we just forget about it and let the people of the future worry about it? We are already doing that anyway by poisioning the earth, and reproducing like rabbits, burning up all our precious resources.

[Denwad 0]

Oh there was an asteriod that came within 50 million miles of earth, but scientists keep it a secret so the population won't panic and the earth will not fall into anarchy because the asteriod can be diverted. There are plenty of 100 megaton hydrogen bombs waiting for detonation, I can't seem to find a better way to get rid of them!

[ralphwiggum 6]

well, let's see....

air bags are to protect head inuries of a driver in case of crash...

so if we deploy airbags to stop asteroid, are we considering that it could backfire? i mean airbags now had problem of causing head injury due to excessive force..

[Denwad 0]

Well, it'd be better to slow it down so then we'd have more time to nuke it.

[cam0flage 0]

Screw the airbags, our only hope is Bruce Willis with a drill. I'm not talking about an ordinary drill, i'm talking about Kegetys' Drill Addon.

[Sadico 1]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">There are plenty of 100 megaton hydrogen bombs waiting for detonation, I can't seem to find a better way to get rid of them! <span id='postcolor'>

The biggest nuke ever detonated had a yield of about 50 megatons. Maybe there are bigger nukes, but they have never been tested and certainly we don't have plenty of them. Nuclear weapons are extremely powerful, but not as powerful as lots of people think. You need a lot more power to make an asteroid the size of a mountain that's moving at several kilometers per second change it's course. The key is detecting the threat tens or even hundreds of years before it hits. If you detect it when it's very far from the earth, a very small change in it's course might make it miss.

[DarkLight 0]

Best way to me is nuking them, one good strong bomb can do it.....

[Harnu 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (DarkLight @ Sep. 01 2002,16:44)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Best way to me is nuking them, one good strong bomb can do it.....<span id='postcolor'>

one? I would take more like a few hundred

[Sadico 1]

Or a few tens of thousands if the rock is really big.

[Paratrooper 0]

A nuclear strike on an asteroid would just send a cloud of radioactive rock and dust to earth, nuclear winter anyone?

[eh remraf 0]

It depends on what sort of rock is coming. If it's a loose rock, then it will break up. If it's a hard rock (such as iron) it should theoretically work.

[Harnu 0]

if it's loose, the fore from the explosion would break it pretty well. Radiation would be pretty well distibuted, but I don't think it would be that much left on the rocks. Most of the small pieces would burn up in the atmosphere.

[Warin 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Paratrooper @ Sep. 01 2002,18:44)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">A nuclear strike on an asteroid would just send a cloud of radioactive rock and dust to earth, nuclear winter anyone?<span id='postcolor'>

LOL

Good one

Deris small enough to cause that sort of blanketing effect wont enter the atmosphere. If it did, the earth would have been in this situation long, long ago. If the debris is small enough it will burn up in the atmosphere.

I think we need to come up with an effective way to divert large asteroids and such. But I dont think nuking it to oblivion is a practical idea. In the article, they mention sending some sort of propulsion unit to divert the course. Somehow I think this is the best idea.

[Sadico 1]

I doubt that even all the nukes in this world would turn into dust a 15 km asteroid. If such an asteroid was in collision course with the earth, there is nothing we can do about it.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I think we need to come up with an effective way to divert large asteroids and such. But I dont think nuking it to oblivion is a practical idea. In the article, they mention sending some sort of propulsion unit to divert the course. Somehow I think this is the best idea.

<span id='postcolor'>

I've read a Sci-Fi novel called "Red Mars" where they use that method. They send robots to build a factory in the asteroid, the factory extracts the water in the asteroid to get hydrogen and oxygen to use it as fuel for a huge rocket that alters the asteroid's course. Only they use the method to bring the asteroid into Mars's orbit and build a space elevator.