[meteorite-list] Helpful Tips For Nuking An Asteroid

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2015 10:00:26 -0700
Message-ID: <1441990826.89139.YahooMailBasic_at_web142504.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>

A recent article about the importance of knowing the composition and physical properties of asteroids.
And as I have always said, we need to know everything we can learn from all of the meteorites (large and small)
that we can find and study, as well as their rate of influx:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150803-space-nasa-asteroids-comets-nuclear-weapons-defense/?utm_source=NatGeo

Extracted from the article:

[Quote]
Nor do we have experience using a weapon of mass destruction as a precision instrument. We would need to know the ideal proximity and yield of the explosive device, as well as the asteroid?s physical properties. Is it porous and rocky, or dense and metallic, such as the 150-foot-wide iron-nickel object that fell to Earth 50,000 years ago, creating the nearly mile-wide Meteor Crater in Arizona?

In other words, how does one nuke an asteroid and make sure to obliterate it so thoroughly that the bits won't kill us like a shotgun blast?

When scientists debate methods for blowing up asteroids, they speak in terms of ?energy coupling??how much of the explosive energy is transferred to the target, and the effect of that energy as it travels through the asteroid.

And that?s why the composition of an asteroid can be crucial.
[unquote.]

Bob V.
Received on Fri 11 Sep 2015 01:00:26 PM PDT