HAMMER aka Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response

Apparently NASA and NNSA have drawn up plans to protect the earth with spacecraft that would release a probe with a nuclear device with yields up to 1GT(GIGAtons/1000 megatons/10000 kilotons) to push in coming asteroids out of the way. when the device detonates it would turn part of the asteroid into gas/plasma causing a thrust effect sufficient to push it out of the earth orbit.

According to George Lemmer's 1967 Air Force and Strategic Deterrence 1951–1960 paper, in 1957, LANL stated that a 1,000-megaton warhead could be built LLNL called the 2 of the three plans GNOMON and SUNDIAL, also Tellers next in command worked out the kinks in his 'classical super'.wiki

The shoemaker levy 9 prompted Teller to work with ex russian weapons experts to make these plans a reality, with all the very close passes recently it makes me wonder if they have these things ready to go.

They also talk about using gravity tractors as well as ion thrusters to move an asteroid as long as we find it soon enough to make these options viable.

With our space plane in orbit testing new methods of propulsion and god knows what else it seems to me they may be testing these options out.


is there any realistic method of diverting a ELE hit? i cant remember the names of the near misses that no one saw coming is kind of worrisome

All you really need to do is to slow the object down such that it passes behind the Earth.

It depends on how big the object is. Several Nuclear strikes one after the other will do this within current tech.

I would assume they can do that today.

Of course, they can't tell us that due to other countries screaming about militarizing space but I assume that Russia could do it as well.

P

a reply to: penroc3

I read one paper that discussed painting them as well. This would increase the heat and cause it to release gass and change its orbit. If known early there is lots of options. The killer one will be the one we missed weeks away.

Hmmm
Gigaton nuclear weapons in orbit
What could possibly go wrong there?

originally posted by: penroc3

Apparently NASA and NNSA have drawn up plans to protect the earth with spacecraft that would release a probe with a nuclear device with yields up to 1GT(GIGAtons/1000 megatons/10000 kilotons) to push in coming asteroids out of the way. when the device detonates it would turn part of the asteroid into gas/plasma causing a thrust effect sufficient to push it out of the earth orbit.

According to George Lemmer's 1967 Air Force and Strategic Deterrence 1951–1960 paper, in 1957, LANL stated that a 1,000-megaton warhead could be built LLNL called the 2 of the three plans GNOMON and SUNDIAL, also Tellers next in command worked out the kinks in his 'classical super'.wiki

The shoemaker levy 9 prompted Teller to work with ex russian weapons experts to make these plans a reality, with all the very close passes recently it makes me wonder if they have these things ready to go.

They also talk about using gravity tractors as well as ion thrusters to move an asteroid as long as we find it soon enough to make these options viable.

With our space plane in orbit testing new methods of propulsion and god knows what else it seems to me they may be testing these options out.


is there any realistic method of diverting a ELE hit? i cant remember the names of the near misses that no one saw coming is kind of worrisome

im sure it is a misprint but 1gt=1,000mt=1,000,000kt

a reply to: fightzone58

It's the TNT equivalent and the actual nuclear device(s) are way smaller in mass for the same explosive energy.

a reply to: Pilgrum

i know the weight is lighter. i was pointing out that the math was wrong or it was a misprint. 57 years ago today russia tested tsar bomba. it weighed roughly 60,000 pounds and yielded 57 megatons

Isn't the blast effect of a nuke in space much less than in an atmosphere? Therefore, how would a nuclear explosion or several for that matter have the desired effect on an asteroid, in space, in a vacuum?

a reply to: oldcarpy

You're right in that a close proximity explosion might not have much effect on a large rock in a vacuum so the device would need to detonate in contact to fragment/deflect it.

a reply to: oldcarpy

A nuclear detonation produces awesome amounts of gamma and neutron radiation. In the atmosphere, the gamma is absorbed and reradiated at longer frequencies several times down through x-rays, UV, light and IR (heat) and RF (EMP). This produces the fireball, which rises quickly, producing the mushroom cloud.

In space the gamma & neutrons spread unimpeded. To the eye, the burst is very faint - the main optical effect is the ionized plasma from the vaporized bomb casing spreading very fast.

However, the full energy is still there, even if you don't see it. Detonating a nuke near an asteroid (a direct hit is undesirable), the neutron pressure alone is non-trivial. The gamma rays interacting with the surface could cause vaporization, out-gassing and spalling, all of which would contribute thrust.

Orbiting the Sun, the Earth moves its own diameter every 8 minutes or so. Just a little nudge, far enough in advance can turn a hit into a miss.

Hope this helps.

a reply to: Saint Exupery

Thank you.

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: penroc3

I read one paper that discussed painting them as well. This would increase the heat and cause it to release gass and change its orbit. If known early there is lots of options. The killer one will be the one we missed weeks away.

We will see them coming, but yeah, weeks is our potential late window.

NORAD orbit tracking is far better than you would think, but it can't be publicly disclosed.

a reply to: oldcarpy

Energy dispersion to the object would convert solids to gas or plasma. It wouldn't take much to make measurable orbit changes, sufficient to help.

a reply to: penroc3

is there any realistic method of diverting a ELE hit?

I'm thinking a nuclear explosion before contact, if I may extrapolate, a designated hitter could hit a standard ball for a home run, but a knuckle ball could end in an infield fly. Direct contact could prove costly, but a near explosion of the missile might change it's trajectory.

s there any realistic method of diverting a ELE hit?

Comes down to speed, and composition of the object.

Nukes in space act very differently than they do here on earth.

A lot of the energy is wasted.

No air to produce shock waves, etc

Rods from God

Gotta love them



Project Thor

If that new spaceplane is unmanned, where do Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck sit?


Seriously though, the plan here is not the same as the plan in the movie Armageddon. In this case, they are not blowing up the asteroid -- which is a bad idea from what most scientist tell us, bcause it just creates lots and lots of little projectiles. Instead, they are vaporizing a part of it into plasma), and energy from that plasm will in turn create a thrust in the opposite direction, moving it out of the way.

So it isn't a coarse blow with a hammer as much as it is a surgical tap.

Twill not work.

Go play a few games of 8-ball then get back to me.

Ya gotta harness MASS to redirect MASS....at low speeds....or parallel speeds.

There is only one way to save this Planet from a Space Destroyer......ONLY ONE WAY....and its Canadian Made.

originally posted by: one4all
Twill not work.

Go play a few games of 8-ball then get back to me.

Ya gotta harness MASS to redirect MASS....at low speeds....or parallel speeds.

There is only one way to save this Planet from a Space Destroyer......ONLY ONE WAY....and its Canadian Made.

If the billiard table was long enough, a light wind could alter a ball that was originally heading straight for a pocket just enough so that by the time it reached that pocket at the end of the long table, it would miss.

Why don't we just move the Earth instead?