Are we technologically advanced enough to destroy incoming asteroids/comets?

After reading this article from daily galaxy

www.dailygalaxy.com...

It got me thinking, is it possible for us to stop an asteroid from hitting Earth?? The only weapon I could think of is a nuke?? There has to be some other kind of weapons to destroy the asteroid from impacting (if there is one). If so what size of nuke do you think we would need to destroy an asteriod that was as big as the one that made the dinosaurs extinct?? I was also reading that a possible scenario would be that nanobots would gain independance and kill anything in there path. I laughed at that becasue it sounded so sci-fi. But then I got thinking, in the future mabey 30-40 years mabey this could be a serious problem.

www.dailygalaxy.com...

[edit on 26-9-2009 by Maddogkull]

Well if you believe in any of the stories of Military Advanced secret technology, then yes, I am sure we are preprared.

Particle beam weapons would take care of those in a jiffy. However if you don't, and we must rely on conventional weaponry, it would be a tough sell in my opinion.

A nuke is nice and all, but it's not really something that you can control after you've launched it.

~Keeper

Depends how big it is.An asteroid the size of texas for example...not much you could do about that i would think.Alot of the time jupiter saves us from asteroids...we would probably have to hedge our bets on that or say bye bye to civilization.

No. We don't have the technology to destroy incoming asteroids. But doing so is probably not a very good idea anyway. You just end up with a bunch of smaller pieces hitting the Earth at the same time. The end result is the same, the same amount of kinetic energy is released.

Deflecting them is a better idea. Done early enough, a very slight nudge would be enough to prevent a collision. But, we don't have the technology to do that either.

For the time being, we're pretty well screwed if one has our name on it. But, there are some smart people working on the problem.

reply to post by Maddogkull


Yes.
However, the aliens will probably do it for us.
They live here also.
No need to destroy it. Just adjust the course or maybe stop
it completely and park it in the asteroid belt.

reply to post by Eurisko2012


Why would "aliens" do it exactly? or were you being sarcastic and not serious? Anyway phage is right also,it could makes things worse.In any case an asteroid would more than likely hit the water i would think..What size would it need to be to create a worldwide tsunami type scenario?

I don't think we could stop a GRB...we probably wouldn't even notice it before it was too late.

[edit on 26-9-2009 by Solomons]

We can't just think of 'an' asteroid. Planetary defense is an endless process.

The process of detection, characterization, and intervention is ongoing. It is a war that will never end- but war in its best meaning.

Asteroids, comets, rogue space objects. GRB's.

We have limited means of interdiction now. Few people realize, for example, that the US Apollo Saturn V was designed for asteroid interdiction using massive clusters of fusion bombs, by Wernher Von Braun. This was its secondary planned role, in addition to Project Horizon/Apollo.

We have the technology now. We have limited programs. But until we develop a species will to put civilian enterprise in space, we will remain vulnerable to the unreasoning, inevitable violence of cosmic nature.

thats what project blue beam is for. they'll just beam a giant image of Rosie O'Donnell looking out to space into our atmosphere and the asteroid will change course . jk

seriously i think any asteroids small enough to be destroyed with nukes might be so small we wouldnt notice them until they were right on tpo of us

Originally posted by Solomons
reply to post by Eurisko2012

 

Why would "aliens" do it exactly? or were you being sarcastic and not serious? Anyway phage is right also,it could makes things worse.In any case an asteroid would more than likely hit the water i would think..What size would it need to be to create a worldwide tsunami type scenario?

I don't think we could stop a GRB...we probably wouldn't even notice it before it was too late.

[edit on 26-9-2009 by Solomons]

The Grays care about us.
It wouldn't take long.
It's a 2 hour task.
MJ-12 could also do it.
All you need is a Triangle Starship.

reply to post by Eurisko2012


If grays care about us they have a funny definition of care.You know world wars,genocide,starvation,dropping atomic bombs on japan.Are those not evil enough for them to intervene? To stay on topic though,i remember reading that scientists thought of sending up a very large sheet of material that would somehow stop an asteroid,something to do with the sun also..not very specific i know but it's hard to remember,there was a thread about it on ATS im sure.

reply to post by Solomons


No man. All you need is 1 Triangle Starship.
I guess one of those Beamship cigar shaped starships could also
do it in nonlinear time. No problem. Milk run OP.
Extend the warp field around BIG ROCK .
Turn on the tractor beam and tow it to the asteroid.
Park it there and then fly back to Earth.
As far as the Grays, i think there really is a Star Trek
"noninterference" prime directive.
They come close. Around 1991 the Grays were flying
around Mexico putting on giant air shows.
- Disclosure will be December 21,2012 -
A new beginning!

Get real.

Here's a links page to the real deal: SPACEGUARD.

WE don't need to destroy it to avoid a catastrophe.

"engines" could be "attached" to it to move it off course. Space sails could also do the same. A mirror in orbit near it could reflect sun rays to the surface of the meteor in a small area which would burn a hole and release gas or steam which would naturally move it off course. A space tractor could move it.
Check out the History channel special on it. As long as we can see the sucker coming and its not a BIG surprise, we'll do ok.

there is a place called the la grange ...
about 1/6th between the earth and the moon ... where gravity is pulling tword the moon as much as it pulls tword the earth .

the location is not really a single spot , but more like a curved plane with a place at the bottom of the curve being pretty much in a line between the moon and earth.

this becomes intresting with astroids because once aimed at this point.... it may be directed with very little F=Ma .

any astroid directed at this point ( more correctly , at this plane ) could be caught in a orbit around earth , useing its own latent accelaration to catch it .

why distroy an astriod ? when you can farm them?

reply to post by venividivici


at some point in time , people will want to go to the astroid feilds between mars and earth and gather astriods for materials.

would it not be useful for the future to do some of the design work now , with near earth objects .

useing solar wind ( more correctly , sun out gasing of plasma ) in change of motion / transfer of momentum to magnetic feilds , mag feild genarators powered by ion charged capacitors that use the mag genarator to direct the partical stream .

once fired up , it would regenarate power in a positive feed back loop that could cascade into a drive system

reply to post by readerone


The asteroid belt is between Mars and Jupiter.
I think it used to be planet millions of years ago.
It exploded and became the asteroid belt.
Lots titanium,gold,platinum and copper out there.


Lets go get it!

B612 is on it. Mature systems can have problems, like ours, or BD+20 307.

Wonder if there was a space lift for them, assuming if there was anyone there, what do you think? Mayhap they monkeyed with their system a little too much, a scenario for our alien tuned audience, since they are all the rave.

bh bs bb code...

[edit on 9/27/2009 by Matyas]

reply to post by Matyas


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www.abovetopsecret.com...

I think if you read this you may smile

Originally posted by Phage
No. We don't have the technology to destroy incoming asteroids. But doing so is probably not a very good idea anyway. You just end up with a bunch of smaller pieces hitting the Earth at the same time. The end result is the same, the same amount of kinetic energy is released.

Not really since breaking it up into smaller pieces would increases the surface area and increase friction, makes the total kinetic energy less than if it were whole. And depending on how far away it is, those pieces could miss the earth.

reply to post by ghaleon12


I think it could be agree'd upon , blowing 2000 holes 100 feet in diameter over a 4ooo mile foot print is better than blowing a single 2000 foot deep hole in one place ....

but hey , is there something else that might work , like maybe... it doesn't blow any hole at all....

happy thoughts