http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html
Moon Laser Base Proposed for Asteroid-Comet Hazard Leonard David space.com November 25, 2003 A lunar facility to mitigate the asteroid-comet hazard for the Earth has been proposed by Russian scientist, Viacheslav Ivashkin of the M.V. Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics. The idea was tabled this week at the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) meeting on the Kohala Coast, Hawai'i. The base would be multi-tasked in its operation. Solar energy would first be collected at the facility, then converted into electricity to power both an astronomical observatory and a laser station. Ivashkin's proposal has the observatory scanning the heavens for any near-Earth objects (NEOs) -- either comets or asteroids -- that could be on an incoming trajectory harmful to Earth. "In this case, the laser station is proposed to give a powerful laser effect on that object to deflect or destroy it," Ivashkin reports. The Russian scientist has assessed the amount of solar collecting hardware needed to be planted on the Moon to thwart hazardous NEOS, as well as laser power levels required to produce the desired effects of mitigating troublesome comets or asteroids. In a paper presented at the ILEWG, Ivashkin concluded that international cooperation in designing, creating and operating the energy-astronomical-laser space base on the Moon is necessary. Ivashkin's study of the asteroid-comet mitigation concept is being supported by the Russian Foundation for the Basic Studies and the Harbin Institute of Technology, China. ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
