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TOPIC: Avoiding Collision / Destroying NEO


L

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RE: Avoiding Collision / Destroying NEO
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Most experts agree that Apophis requires closer scrutiny, and to that end, in February 2008 the Planetary Society awarded US$50,000 in prize money to companies and students who submitted designs for space probes that would put a tracking device on or near the asteroid.
According to mathematical modelling data, if an asteroid several kilometres wide or a comet nucleus collides with the planet, "mankind may be wiped out of the face of Earth instantly or may be thrown back several centuries in its development".

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A U.S. congressman has suggested using a Russian radar together with American optical systems to monitor asteroid threats to Earth. The suggestion came during the discussion of a NASA funding bill approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

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Three American Fork High School are earning accolades for their stargazing.
Bryce Tholl, Clinton McClesky and Karlee Craig identified a combined four asteroids as part of a NASA program tied to their astronomy class.

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Until very recently, the devastating 1908 explosion of a space rock over the isolated Tunguska region of Siberia was thought to be a once-in-a-millennium event. Based on comparisons to nuclear weapon blast effects, many experts estimated the Tunguska object to be 50 to 100 meters. But new simulations by Mark Boslough at Sandia National Laboratories suggest the Tunguska object was much smaller than previously believed. And since smaller near-Earth objects (NEOs) are more common than larger ones, the implication is that the gap between such impacts may be centuries rather than millennia.

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Asteroid Deflection
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Title: Asteroid Deflection: How, where and when?
Authors: D. Fargion
(Version v4)

To deflect impact-trajectory of massive km³ and spinning asteroid by a few terrestrial radius one need a large momentum exchange. The dragging of huge spinning bodies in space by external engine seems difficult or impossible. Our solution is based on the landing of multi screw-rockets, powered by mini-nuclear engines, on the body, that dig a small fraction of the soil surface, to use as an exhaust propeller, ejecting it vertically in phase among themselves. Such a mass ejection increases the momentum exchange, their number redundancy guarantees the stability of the system. The slow landing (below 40 cm s^-1) of each engine-unity at those lowest gravity field, may be achieved by save rolling and bouncing along the surface. The engine array tuned activity, overcomes the asteroid angular velocity. Coherent turning of the jet heads increases the deflection efficiency. A procession along its surface may compensate at best the asteroid spin. A small skin-mass (about 2 10^4 tons) may be ejected by mini nuclear engines. Such prototypes may also build first save galleries for humans on the Moon. Conclusive deflecting tests might be performed on remote asteroids. The incoming asteroid 99942 Apophis (just 2% of km³) may be deflected safely a few Earth radius. How to tag its trajectory is described. Its encounter maybe not just a hazard but an opportunity, learning how to land, dig, build and also to nest save human station inside. Asteroids amplified deflections by gravity swing maybe driven into longest planetary journeys. Mars journey may benefit by Phobos natural asteroid parking and fuelling role.

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L

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RE: Avoiding Collision / Destroying NEO
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At a news conference  Anatoly Perminov, Russian Space Agency chief, has announced that there were plans to develop a space defence system that would protect the Earth from a potential asteroid impact by 2040.
Members of the scientific community are unanimous in that the asteroid danger is real and that some measures should be taken to prevent it. The discovery of Apophis three years ago made them and the general public even more aware of that threat.
Scientists suggest monitoring all space objects that fly in dangerous proximity to the Earth. This will require 5-meter telescopes, with three or four mounted in each hemisphere. The telescopes will target some particular segment of outer space, and data collected with their help could then form the foundation of a catalogue of asteroids measuring more than a kilometre across.
Installed on board a spacecraft, telescopes with a mirror 20 to 30 centimetres in diameter could monitor asteroids measuring 50-100 meters across at a distance of several million kilometres from the Earth. The main objective of such monitoring will be to follow the trajectory of objects that may have a potential impact on the Earth.
Scientists say that after at least 90% of large asteroids are recorded and constantly observed, it will be possible to warn the humankind about the threat of an impact some 80-100 years ahead.
But it remains unclear how a sighted asteroid can really be stopped from striking the Earth. Would it be a good idea to preempt an impact by hitting the approaching celestial body with a nuclear or hydrogen bomb? And at what distance would such a pre-emptive strike be safe enough for the planet?
Mathematical modelling has enabled scientists to calculate the lower distance limit for detonating a nuclear warhead in outer space. An asteroid moves with an average speed of 25 kilometres per second, so it should be no closer to the Earth than 464,000 kilometres when a bomb targeting it goes off.
Detractors argue that using such a method would be extremely unwise and fraught with grave implications for the Earth.
Boris Shustov, president of the Astronomy Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, is one of the opponents. He heads an academic task force set up in Russia to study threats posed by asteroids and comets to the Earth.

Source Novosti

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Flying mirrors could save earth from a catastrophic asteroid collision, researchers have claimed.
Up to 5,000 mirrors would be used to focus a beam of sunlight on to the asteroid, melting the rock and altering its orbital path away from earth.
The announcement came after a team at the University of Glasgow compared nine different methods of deflecting near earth objects - asteroids and comets.
A 100m asteroid hits the earth roughly every century.


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L

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Avoiding NEO
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A NETWORK of mirrors harnessing the destructive power of the sun might save the world from disaster, space experts believe.

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L

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RE: Avoiding Collision / Destroying NEO
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NASA plans to deal with killer comets or asteroids on collision courses with Earth are more advanced than many analysts had thought.
Flight International reported on Friday that the agency's Marshall Space Flight Centre has developed designs for an asteroid-buster spacecraft which could be launched using the future Ares V cargo rocket.

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Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive - The Emperor

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L

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Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has requested a Congressional hearing to examine the United States' ability to track Near Earth Objects (NEOs) that potentially pose a significant threat to the planet. NEOs include asteroids and comets within the solar system.

"At this time, our ability to discover and track such objects is woefully inadequate"- Dana Rohrabacher.

Rohrabacher is a member of the Science and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics and the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.

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