[meteorite-list] Asteroid 2004 MN4: A Really Near Miss!

From: Kirk Jenks <bandk_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Feb 4 22:45:17 2005
Message-ID: <005d01c50b35$163fa850$897ede42_at_Kirkalan>

Hey, if its going to pass within satellite distance of Mother Earth, let's
hope for NO nudging from anything in the next 20 years or so. By comparison,
a flick of the finger could be enough to change its trajectory for the
worse.
                                        Best,
                                                Kirk.........
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <kelly_at_bhil.com>
To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 9:35 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Asteroid 2004 MN4: A Really Near Miss!


> Hi,
>
> Whoa, Darren! True, the asteroid will be closer than a
geosynchronous satellite, but
> since it's not gravitationally bound to the Earth's g-field, the
local speed limits will not
> apply! You're going to have to really hop up your police interceptor
rocket if you're going
> to get close enough to even slap it on the ass on its way by!
> I don't know what its geocentric velocity will be when it gets
here, but the figure of
> 42 degrees per hour apparent movement through the sky field
contrasted with the 15 degrees
> per hour of a geosynchronous satellite orbit, suggests it'll really
be bookin'!
> The delta-V required to match up with it would probably be,
you'll pardon the
> expression, astronomical. And, then, after you've had the space
walk, the flag planting,
> the call from the President, etc., you still have to get back before
you, too, disappear
> into the Wild Black Yonder. Another big hunk of delta-V.
> There's another problem unique to high speed close approach
missions: not only do you
> have to execute a high delta-V maneuver, you have to do it in a big
hurry. That thing is
> movin'! That means you will have to accelerate at very high gee's.
Either that, or you have
> to go out to meet the thing well in advance and accelerate at a
slower rate, matching
> velocities after a long "bow chase," as the sailors say.
> In fact, the only feasible mission plan would be a long voyage to
the asteroid long
> before the Earth encounter, ride it by the Earth and back out to the
best point for the
> Earth Return leg. Much less delta-V but a lot more time to play
solitaire in the capsule.
> As for nudging, hey! You'd better practice on some asteroids that
aren't going to pass
> near the Earth first, before you try nudging anything that is. In
fact, I wouldn't mind if
> you skipped that nudging part altogether. :-]
>
>
> Sterling K. Webb
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Darren Garrison wrote:
>
> > On Fri, 4 Feb 2005 16:32:42 -0800 (PST), Ron Baalke
<baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
> >
> > >Paul Chodas, Steve Chesley, Jon Giorgini and Don Yeomans of NASA's Near
> > >Earth Object Program calculate that the asteroid will pass 4.7 Earth
> > >radii (30,000 kilometers, or 18,600 miles) from Earth's surface. This
is
> >
> > Wow. Plenty of time to plan a (relatively) easy visit and sample
recovery mission. That's lower
> > than geosynchronous orbit!
> >
> > Of course, if you wanted to be a bit more ambitious, given 24 years we
could probably even throw
> > together a project to nudge it into Earth orbit, but I think that would
get some pretty bad press.
> >
> > Maybe we could nudge it into the moon and watch it hit!
>
>
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Received on Fri 04 Feb 2005 10:45:07 PM PST