🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Bwypxr.Au5.1@cs.cmu.edu> roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov (John Roberts) writes:

>
>-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

An awful lot I should think...  1000kg of Semtex would probably be enough..

I read once that the average underground nuclear explosion created spaces
in rock half a mile across.  (Anyone confirm this?)

This is a big fraction of the size of the comet and would cause a big
perturbation in the orbit.  If this could be directed at one of the
poles then is should throw it far enough out of the ecliptic plane to
not be a problem...

Of course, if they were really clever they'd get put it on a trajectory
into the Sun!

Andy.

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