Quoting Michael Carnes <michaelcarnes@earthlink.net>:
As a former little boy, I can certainly see the appeal in blasting the living s*** out of a threatening asteroid or comet. But I'm a long way from being sold. When I think of the tons and tons and tons of material (or materiel) to be lifted to quite distant moving targets, it just doesn't add up for me. Just like the whole so-called "Star Wars" missile defense, it shares more with the Maginot Line than with a successful plan. The French squandered their treasury on the Maginot Line and the Germans just drove around it. I think that if we got our minds set on a big blow-em-up strategy, we'd miss out on cheaper and potentially more effective tricks. Of course the big defense contractors would love it. Job security for decades. Cost Plus.
For a 'what it' scenario, imagine you've got to get rid of a Temple-Tuttle class comet. Boost up a few truckloads of soot and spread them over the thing. Let the sun take care of it over a few years. Or imagine a big microwave emitter with solar cells. Land the thing on the comet (or just orbit) and point the emitter down toward the surface. Maybe sprinkle a little popcorn on it, too. For an asteroid, send a few ion drive engines. Use a few to damp the rotations and another to gradually nudge the orbit. It mighttake decades to move it. These may be the dumbest ideas yet, but the point is not to be crippled by the only techniques we know.
Until a different and more able technology emerges, I'm in favor of using and refining the technology we have. Thanks to defense contractors, star war missle defense technology and NASA scientists, we have the ability to drive something nasty into an object at great distances. And armed with the right warhead, maybe reconfigure it enough to effect a change in it's trajectory, and it doesn't take much of a change to cause a miss (knock on wood), especially when the threat is a long ways out. I'm in favor of researching new technologies, but I'm not willing to discard one technology before we have a working replacement in hand. We can resort to throwing soot, popcorn or fairy dust for that matter, at the problem if this doesn't pan out. ;) And speaking of defense contractors, they and their employees provide a valuable service to this country, and they, like you and me, have families to feed, so I'm in favor of providing them the work. _______________________________________________
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