Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
"Steve wrote: "A 10 meter astroid would be similar ... our best defence against a larger extinction event astroid." Steve, before taking the controls of Asteroid videogames, you need to dig up an old Spirograph toy. They are really fun. There you can learn all you want about deflecting *astroids* with Spirograph and make all kinds of orbits and deflect them more or less with a pen. For real, you can draw the most awesome astroids with a spirograph set. Or if you are technical, and too old for toys, this ought to clear it up: http://online.redwoods.cc.ca.us/instruct/dhicketh/math50c/projectfall99/specialplanecurve/astroid.htm Over a few years on the list you've always written *astroid*. Your calculations for unablated, unfragemented meteoroid sizes more if you decide to fix that. Yeah, its just a typo, and some people in this world can't even spell their own name. Just a shameless plug for Spirograph: http://www.ebay.com/itm/150653856668 Kindest wishes Doug -Original Message- From: Steve Dunklee To: Bernd V. Pauli ; meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com; Sterling K. Webb Sent: Tue, Aug 30, 2011 2:54 pm Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit Greetings all: A 10 meter astroid would be similar in size to the original size of the Ash Creek meteorite, or about the size but not mass of the International Space Station. Its most valuable use would be as a projectile to to deflect an 100 meter or larger NEO. If capture failed and it hit the earth it would most likely cause no more damage than the headlines preaching doom! Being able to capture it and use it to deflect a larger NEO would be our best defence against a larger extinction event astroid. Cheers Steve Dunklee --- On Mon, 8/29/11, Sterling K. Webb wrote: From: Sterling K. Webb Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit To: "Bernd V. Pauli" , meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Date: Monday, August 29, 2011, 11:01 PM Hi, Bernd, List, A mere 10-meter spherical asteroid? (To a physicist, everything is spherical at the first approximation...) That's 523.6 cu. meters. At a rock density of 2 to 3 metric tons per cu. meter, that's somewhere between 1047.2 and 1570.8 metric tons. As a disaster, it's on a par with dropping a grand piano on a cartoon coyote. It would be a slow approach and MIGHT drop 10 kilos of meteorites, but probably not unless it grazed the atmosphere at the correct angle. However, a 10-meter asteroid is a tiny playground. What if it were a 100-meter asteroid, ten times bigger, and lots of surface (and about 1,000,000 tons). If you accidentally dropped that object on the Earth, you'd have a 250-meter crater and 0.2 MegaTon blast. Too big to play with. A 33-meter asteroid? Airbursts at 14 kilometers and splatters a lot of fast fragments, but no craters. From this I conclude that the 10-meter asteroid grab is a Modest Proposal. Unless, of course, it's an iron... Sterling K. Webb - --- - Original Message - From: "Bernd V. Pauli" To: Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 4:51 PM Subject: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit > "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" > > What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? > What if the Moon interferes? > > What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet Earth? > > - utter devestation > - millions of people killed > - wildfires > - tsunamis > - earthquakes > - tons and tons of material ejected into the atmosphere > - etc., etc. > > Bernd > > > __ > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
Greetings all: A 10 meter astroid would be similar in size to the original size of the Ash Creek meteorite, or about the size but not mass of the International Space Station. Its most valuable use would be as a projectile to to deflect an 100 meter or larger NEO. If capture failed and it hit the earth it would most likely cause no more damage than the headlines preaching doom! Being able to capture it and use it to deflect a larger NEO would be our best defence against a larger extinction event astroid. Cheers Steve Dunklee --- On Mon, 8/29/11, Sterling K. Webb wrote: > From: Sterling K. Webb > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit > To: "Bernd V. Pauli" , > meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > Date: Monday, August 29, 2011, 11:01 PM > Hi, Bernd, List, > > A mere 10-meter spherical asteroid? (To a physicist, > everything is spherical at the first approximation...) > That's 523.6 cu. meters. At a rock density of 2 to 3 > metric tons per cu. meter, that's somewhere between > 1047.2 and 1570.8 metric tons. > > As a disaster, it's on a par with dropping a grand piano > on a cartoon coyote. It would be a slow approach and > MIGHT drop 10 kilos of meteorites, but probably not > unless it grazed the atmosphere at the correct angle. > However, a 10-meter asteroid is a tiny playground. > > What if it were a 100-meter asteroid, ten times bigger, > and lots of surface (and about 1,000,000 tons). If you > accidentally dropped that object on the Earth, you'd > have a 250-meter crater and 0.2 MegaTon blast. > > Too big to play with. > > A 33-meter asteroid? Airbursts at 14 kilometers and > splatters a lot of fast fragments, but no craters. From > this I conclude that the 10-meter asteroid grab is a > Modest Proposal. > > Unless, of course, it's an iron... > > > Sterling K. Webb > > - Original Message - > From: "Bernd V. Pauli" > To: > Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 4:51 PM > Subject: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In > Earth Orbit > > > > "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" > > > > What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? > > What if the Moon interferes? > > > > What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet > Earth? > > > > - utter devestation > > - millions of people killed > > - wildfires > > - tsunamis > > - earthquakes > > - tons and tons of material ejected into the > atmosphere > > - etc., etc. > > > > Bernd > > > > > > __ > > Visit the Archives at > > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > > Meteorite-list mailing list > > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > > __ > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
Sterling wrote: "Personally, I think the worry about accuracy of orbital maneuvers is silly and mis-placed. Few human operations are are so precise. Think about matching up with Vesta from hundreds of millions of km away!" I can see it now: China say they are practicing mining and everyone thinks, 'ok, the Moon is 50 years old', Venus and Mars have been done, let them have their thing and waste their money on that foolish endeavor '. While they put an orbiting Damocles sword around the Earth which, if they choose, can make that crater, if they succeed as you believe, right on top of the White House or Kremlin, and no heat seeking defensive missle is gong to change that. A false sense of confidence by the guys pushing the buttons is all we need by systems governed by Finagle's Law. I think we have too many weapons' risks in the world and am completely unimpressed by the idea of going all out to get another Moon, no matter how small, given the 'silly' risk considering who will be controlling its orbit. Comparing asteroids of unknown composition, rotational, vibrational and translational energy, and variable tensile strength and mass which need to be determined in-situ on the fly and and space vehicles carefully assembled on Earth is apples and oranges - make that pygmy cherries and gibberellically modified Edmund Scientific pomelos I dreamed of as a kid. There is a vast amount of energy required for most of these asteroid maneuvers, and a great deal of uncertainty to deal with in a hostile environment for construction. It is not easy. Now, why rock the boat at all. Just hook up some thrusters to the ISS which will be about as visitable the way things are headed (or send a separate mission) and have it hook up with an asteroid like 2006 RH120 (A temporary moon of Earth at times). If these NEO's are so close, no sense fighting the steering wheel. Just go with the flow and do your business, the world is already full of # drivers. Kindest wishes Doug -Original Message- From: Sterling K. Webb To: Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com; MexicoDoug Sent: Mon, Aug 29, 2011 11:07 pm Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit Doug, List, I'll refer you to the book, "Mining The Sky," by John S. Lewis, which makes a nice solid 260-page case for the economic value of the asteroids. Or to Harrison Schmidt's economic analysis of the value of mining the lunar surface for REE's (Rare Earth Elements). Iron is worth about $0.25 per kilo, but nickel is now over $12 per kilo, Lanthanum oxide $134 per kilo, Neodymium $260 per kilo, and so forth. Or maybe, just check this source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining "At 1997 prices, a relatively small metallic asteroid with a diameter of 1.6 km (1 mile) contains more than 20 trillion US dollars worth of industrial and precious metals." At today's prices? A lot more. The "not an iron" comment was in relation to safety only. A 10-20-meter rock is safe to drop; an iron that size is not. Personally, I think the worry about accuracy of orbital maneuvers is silly and mis-placed. Few human operations are are so precise. Think about matchng up with Vesta from hundreds of millions of km away! The usual standard of accuracy is roughly akin to shooting the eye out of a one-eyed Jack at 100 miles away. Routine. Sterling K. Webb - Original Message ----- From: "MexicoDoug" To: Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 6:54 PM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit Hello Sterling, Well, since the purpose of this is to mine an asteroid, it seems > pretty foolish to waste all that effort on a 10 meter rock which you > won't allow to be an iron. IT HAS TO BE AN IRON unless you want to waste money. Or do you want > to mine antimony (element = Sb). That would be very successfully at mining Antimoney (element = $$$ouch$$$) !!! The problem is that most of the trace elements worth mining are > siderophiles. So if you are going to mine silaceous, or most stony > meteorites, I'd suggest going to a beach on earth (with a K-T > outcropping if you insist ;-) with a tonka dump truck as the initial > probe... Even at the 1 ppm level (a gross exaggeration for a stony meteorite), > there is 1,200 grams of gold in your 1,200 ton 10 meter diameter > "spherical" asteroid. Now I know gold is getting expensive, but let's > keep our feet on terra firma. If you are going to mine anything, it > needs to be worth it. Considering that "mining" such a small body is > an expensive proposition (how do you think it would be smelted in > orbit), they'd be be
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
Doug, List, I'll refer you to the book, "Mining The Sky," by John S. Lewis, which makes a nice solid 260-page case for the economic value of the asteroids. Or to Harrison Schmidt's economic analysis of the value of mining the lunar surface for REE's (Rare Earth Elements). Iron is worth about $0.25 per kilo, but nickel is now over $12 per kilo, Lanthanum oxide $134 per kilo, Neodymium $260 per kilo, and so forth. Or maybe, just check this source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining "At 1997 prices, a relatively small metallic asteroid with a diameter of 1.6 km (1 mile) contains more than 20 trillion US dollars worth of industrial and precious metals." At today's prices? A lot more. The "not an iron" comment was in relation to safety only. A 10-20-meter rock is safe to drop; an iron that size is not. Personally, I think the worry about accuracy of orbital maneuvers is silly and mis-placed. Few human operations are are so precise. Think about matchng up with Vesta from hundreds of millions of km away! The usual standard of accuracy is roughly akin to shooting the eye out of a one-eyed Jack at 100 miles away. Routine. Sterling K. Webb - Original Message - From: "MexicoDoug" To: Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 6:54 PM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit Hello Sterling, Well, since the purpose of this is to mine an asteroid, it seems pretty foolish to waste all that effort on a 10 meter rock which you won't allow to be an iron. IT HAS TO BE AN IRON unless you want to waste money. Or do you want to mine antimony (element = Sb). That would be very successfully at mining Antimoney (element = $$$ouch$$$) !!! The problem is that most of the trace elements worth mining are siderophiles. So if you are going to mine silaceous, or most stony meteorites, I'd suggest going to a beach on earth (with a K-T outcropping if you insist ;-) with a tonka dump truck as the initial probe... Even at the 1 ppm level (a gross exaggeration for a stony meteorite), there is 1,200 grams of gold in your 1,200 ton 10 meter diameter "spherical" asteroid. Now I know gold is getting expensive, but let's keep our feet on terra firma. If you are going to mine anything, it needs to be worth it. Considering that "mining" such a small body is an expensive proposition (how do you think it would be smelted in orbit), they'd be better off just bringing back the 1,200 grams of raw asteroid and selling it to scientists and collectors. So, no matter how you cut up this "pie in the sky" in a spreadsheet, it ain't workin' Kindest wishes Doug -Original Message- From: Sterling K. Webb To: Bernd V. Pauli ; meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Mon, Aug 29, 2011 7:01 pm Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit Hi, Bernd, List, A mere 10-meter spherical asteroid? (To a physicist, everything is spherical at the first approximation...) That's 523.6 cu. meters. At a rock density of 2 to 3 metric tons per cu. meter, that's somewhere between 1047.2 and 1570.8 metric tons. As a disaster, it's on a par with dropping a grand piano on a cartoon coyote. It would be a slow approach and MIGHT drop 10 kilos of meteorites, but probably not unless it grazed the atmosphere at the correct angle. However, a 10-meter asteroid is a tiny playground. What if it were a 100-meter asteroid, ten times bigger, and lots of surface (and about 1,000,000 tons). If you accidentally dropped that object on the Earth, you'd have a 250-meter crater and 0.2 MegaTon blast. Too big to play with. A 33-meter asteroid? Airbursts at 14 kilometers and splatters a lot of fast fragments, but no craters. From this I conclude that the 10-meter asteroid grab is a Modest Proposal. Unless, of course, it's an iron... Sterling K. Webb - --- - Original Message - From: "Bernd V. Pauli" To: Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 4:51 PM Subject: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? What if the Moon interferes? What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet Earth? - utter devestation - millions of people killed - wildfires - tsunamis - earthquakes - tons and tons of material ejected into the atmosphere - etc., etc. Bernd __ Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ___
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
Hello Sterling, Well, since the purpose of this is to mine an asteroid, it seems pretty foolish to waste all that effort on a 10 meter rock which you won't allow to be an iron. IT HAS TO BE AN IRON unless you want to waste money. Or do you want to mine antimony (element = Sb). That would be very successfully at mining Antimoney (element = $$$ouch$$$) !!! The problem is that most of the trace elements worth mining are siderophiles. So if you are going to mine silaceous, or most stony meteorites, I'd suggest going to a beach on earth (with a K-T outcropping if you insist ;-) with a tonka dump truck as the initial probe... Even at the 1 ppm level (a gross exaggeration for a stony meteorite), there is 1,200 grams of gold in your 1,200 ton 10 meter diameter "spherical" asteroid. Now I know gold is getting expensive, but let's keep our feet on terra firma. If you are going to mine anything, it needs to be worth it. Considering that "mining" such a small body is an expensive proposition (how do you think it would be smelted in orbit), they'd be better off just bringing back the 1,200 grams of raw asteroid and selling it to scientists and collectors. So, no matter how you cut up this "pie in the sky" in a spreadsheet, it ain't workin' Kindest wishes Doug -Original Message- From: Sterling K. Webb To: Bernd V. Pauli ; meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Mon, Aug 29, 2011 7:01 pm Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit Hi, Bernd, List, A mere 10-meter spherical asteroid? (To a physicist, everything is spherical at the first approximation...) That's 523.6 cu. meters. At a rock density of 2 to 3 metric tons per cu. meter, that's somewhere between 1047.2 and 1570.8 metric tons. As a disaster, it's on a par with dropping a grand piano on a cartoon coyote. It would be a slow approach and MIGHT drop 10 kilos of meteorites, but probably not unless it grazed the atmosphere at the correct angle. However, a 10-meter asteroid is a tiny playground. What if it were a 100-meter asteroid, ten times bigger, and lots of surface (and about 1,000,000 tons). If you accidentally dropped that object on the Earth, you'd have a 250-meter crater and 0.2 MegaTon blast. Too big to play with. A 33-meter asteroid? Airbursts at 14 kilometers and splatters a lot of fast fragments, but no craters. From this I conclude that the 10-meter asteroid grab is a Modest Proposal. Unless, of course, it's an iron... Sterling K. Webb - --- - Original Message - From: "Bernd V. Pauli" To: Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 4:51 PM Subject: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? What if the Moon interferes? What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet Earth? - utter devestation - millions of people killed - wildfires - tsunamis - earthquakes - tons and tons of material ejected into the atmosphere - etc., etc. Bernd __ Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
Meteorites for everyone!!! (that is left alive) :-0 Stuart McDaniel Lawndale, NC Secr., Cleve. Co. Astronomical Society IMCA #9052 Member - KCA, KBCA, CDUSA -Original Message- From: Bernd V. Pauli Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 5:51 PM To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Subject: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? What if the Moon interferes? What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet Earth? - utter devestation - millions of people killed - wildfires - tsunamis - earthquakes - tons and tons of material ejected into the atmosphere - etc., etc. Bernd __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
.but, just think of all the meteorites that those of us who are left will have!! - and, we will have ground truth too! Dave - Original Message - From: Bernd V. Pauli To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Cc: Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 5:51 PM Subject: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? What if the Moon interferes? What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet Earth? - utter devestation - millions of people killed - wildfires - tsunamis - earthquakes - tons and tons of material ejected into the atmosphere - etc., etc. Bernd __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
Hi Sterling, list - what concerns your 33 m. Asteroid scenario: the Tunguska event, following actual insights, could have been caused by a stony asteroid (or comet) of low density, diameter 30 - 50 m. That is same weight division. No crater, indeed. But a bit more than "a lot of fast fragments". When I try to imagine the fail of such an experiment over a megacity such as NY, I'd prefer much hurrican Irene ... Best regards, Matthias - Original Message - From: "Sterling K. Webb" To: "Bernd V. Pauli" ; Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 1:01 AM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit Hi, Bernd, List, A mere 10-meter spherical asteroid? (To a physicist, everything is spherical at the first approximation...) That's 523.6 cu. meters. At a rock density of 2 to 3 metric tons per cu. meter, that's somewhere between 1047.2 and 1570.8 metric tons. As a disaster, it's on a par with dropping a grand piano on a cartoon coyote. It would be a slow approach and MIGHT drop 10 kilos of meteorites, but probably not unless it grazed the atmosphere at the correct angle. However, a 10-meter asteroid is a tiny playground. What if it were a 100-meter asteroid, ten times bigger, and lots of surface (and about 1,000,000 tons). If you accidentally dropped that object on the Earth, you'd have a 250-meter crater and 0.2 MegaTon blast. Too big to play with. A 33-meter asteroid? Airbursts at 14 kilometers and splatters a lot of fast fragments, but no craters. From this I conclude that the 10-meter asteroid grab is a Modest Proposal. Unless, of course, it's an iron... Sterling K. Webb - Original Message - From: "Bernd V. Pauli" To: Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 4:51 PM Subject: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? What if the Moon interferes? What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet Earth? - utter devestation - millions of people killed - wildfires - tsunamis - earthquakes - tons and tons of material ejected into the atmosphere - etc., etc. Bernd __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Hinweis von ESET Smart Security, Signaturdatenbank-Version 6420 (20110829) __ E-Mail wurde geprüft mit ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
Hi, Bernd, List, A mere 10-meter spherical asteroid? (To a physicist, everything is spherical at the first approximation...) That's 523.6 cu. meters. At a rock density of 2 to 3 metric tons per cu. meter, that's somewhere between 1047.2 and 1570.8 metric tons. As a disaster, it's on a par with dropping a grand piano on a cartoon coyote. It would be a slow approach and MIGHT drop 10 kilos of meteorites, but probably not unless it grazed the atmosphere at the correct angle. However, a 10-meter asteroid is a tiny playground. What if it were a 100-meter asteroid, ten times bigger, and lots of surface (and about 1,000,000 tons). If you accidentally dropped that object on the Earth, you'd have a 250-meter crater and 0.2 MegaTon blast. Too big to play with. A 33-meter asteroid? Airbursts at 14 kilometers and splatters a lot of fast fragments, but no craters. From this I conclude that the 10-meter asteroid grab is a Modest Proposal. Unless, of course, it's an iron... Sterling K. Webb - Original Message - From: "Bernd V. Pauli" To: Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 4:51 PM Subject: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? What if the Moon interferes? What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet Earth? - utter devestation - millions of people killed - wildfires - tsunamis - earthquakes - tons and tons of material ejected into the atmosphere - etc., etc. Bernd __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
Hi Bernd, Marcin, Listees - H ... maybe that "little nudge" they describe can be controlled by a horse's hair and we can call the mission 'Damocles'! There are no interplanetary driver licences required nor parking permit bureau to issue a parking citation (except a citation of the scientific kind) ... so complaining about how the Chinese drive their rocket ships and cargo seems a bit futile ! see: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/61536 Kindest wishes Doug -Original Message- From: Bernd V. Pauli To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Mon, Aug 29, 2011 5:51 pm Subject: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? What if the Moon interferes? What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet Earth? - utter devestation - millions of people killed - wildfires - tsunamis - earthquakes - tons and tons of material ejected into the atmosphere - etc., etc. Bernd __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Re: [meteorite-list] A Plan To Place An Asteroid In Earth Orbit
You forgot Bernd the most importand change "Interesting idea. What could possibly go wrong?" What if the nudge is a little bit too strong? What if the Moon interferes? What if this NEO is thus sent hurtling toward planet Earth? - utter devestation - millions of people killed - wildfires - tsunamis - earthquakes - tons and tons of material ejected into the atmosphere - etc., etc. - meteorites price fall Bernd __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list __ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list