Article View: sci.space
Article #161Re: Moving comets
From: John Roberts
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1992 01:38
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1992 01:38
21 lines
1532 bytes
1532 bytes
-From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) -Subject: Re: Scenario of comet hitting Earth -Date: 29 Oct 92 18:16:02 GMT -Bombs are actually a relatively good way to move asteroids. Comets -are a difficult case, because they are probably fragile and because they -probably have a thin crust with concentrated volatiles underneath. A -small nearby nuclear explosion would blow off the crust on one side, and -the result would be a tremendous spill of gas from the comet itself. -If you knew what you were doing, and did it carefully, this could permit -steering a comet with far less effort than the brute-force approach. How far could a well-placed 10-magaton explosion divert the path of Swift-Tuttle over the course of 120 years? I've seen calculations of this type in the past, but I don't have access to them now. John Roberts roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov
Technical Details
Message-ID:
<Bwypxr.Au5.1@cs.cmu.edu>Path:
arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!sun-barr!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.govShow Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
Newsgroups: sci.space Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!sun-barr!ames!saimiri.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov From: roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov (John Roberts) Subject: Re: Moving comets Message-ID: <Bwypxr.Au5.1@cs.cmu.edu> X-Added: Forwarded by Space Digest Sender: news+@cs.cmu.edu Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology formerly National Bureau of Standards Original-Sender: isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU Distribution: sci Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1992 01:38:32 GMT Approved: bboard-news_gateway Lines: 22