Why We Need To Keep Nuclear ICBM's Around
MonsieurEvil
Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Where's his big brother?</div> <a href='http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994228' target='_blank'>http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?...p?id=ns99994228</a>
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Closest asteroid yet flies past Earth
An asteroid about the size of a small house passed just 88,000 kilometres from the Earth by on Saturday 27 September - the closest approach of a natural object ever recorded. Geostationary communication satellites circle the Earth 42,000km from the planet's centre.
The asteroid, designated 2003 SQ222, came from inside the Earth's orbit and so was only spotted after it had whizzed by. The first sighting was on Sunday 28 by the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search program in Arizona, US.
Amateur astronomer Peter Birtwhistle of Great Shefford, Berkshire, UK, then photographed it on Monday 29. This provided data that helped Brian Marsden, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, to calculate its orbit.
The asteroid's 1.85-year orbit is quite eccentric, indicating it cannot be a man-made object, Marsden says. He estimates the asteroid measured less than 10 metres. This is too small to have posed a danger to Earth, although it would have made a spectacular fireball had it entered the atmosphere.
House fires
The passage came at about 2300 GMT, only 10 hours after a bright fireball streaked over the Orissa region of India. Indian villagers have found pieces of the meteorite, which reportedly cause two house fires. However, this event was not connected to the fly past of 2003 SQ222, says Marsden.
The previous record for closest approach of an asteroid - 108,000km measured from the centre of the Earth - was set in 1994 by another 10m object named 1994 XM1.
But the third-closest approach - at 120,000km - was object 2002 MN, which was about 80m in diameter. If on target, that could have exploded in the Earth's lower atmosphere and devastated a couple of thousand square kilometres on the ground.
Another small asteroid, 2003 SW130, missed the Earth by 160,000km on 19 September, making it a busy month for asteroid watchers.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So next time some hippy tell you to 'ban the bomb', just remember that one of those Minuteman III's sitting in a silo in South Dakota may someday be the key to saving the human race from complete annihilation. Then punch him in the face and tell him to take a bath, commie.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Closest asteroid yet flies past Earth
An asteroid about the size of a small house passed just 88,000 kilometres from the Earth by on Saturday 27 September - the closest approach of a natural object ever recorded. Geostationary communication satellites circle the Earth 42,000km from the planet's centre.
The asteroid, designated 2003 SQ222, came from inside the Earth's orbit and so was only spotted after it had whizzed by. The first sighting was on Sunday 28 by the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search program in Arizona, US.
Amateur astronomer Peter Birtwhistle of Great Shefford, Berkshire, UK, then photographed it on Monday 29. This provided data that helped Brian Marsden, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, to calculate its orbit.
The asteroid's 1.85-year orbit is quite eccentric, indicating it cannot be a man-made object, Marsden says. He estimates the asteroid measured less than 10 metres. This is too small to have posed a danger to Earth, although it would have made a spectacular fireball had it entered the atmosphere.
House fires
The passage came at about 2300 GMT, only 10 hours after a bright fireball streaked over the Orissa region of India. Indian villagers have found pieces of the meteorite, which reportedly cause two house fires. However, this event was not connected to the fly past of 2003 SQ222, says Marsden.
The previous record for closest approach of an asteroid - 108,000km measured from the centre of the Earth - was set in 1994 by another 10m object named 1994 XM1.
But the third-closest approach - at 120,000km - was object 2002 MN, which was about 80m in diameter. If on target, that could have exploded in the Earth's lower atmosphere and devastated a couple of thousand square kilometres on the ground.
Another small asteroid, 2003 SW130, missed the Earth by 160,000km on 19 September, making it a busy month for asteroid watchers.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
So next time some hippy tell you to 'ban the bomb', just remember that one of those Minuteman III's sitting in a silo in South Dakota may someday be the key to saving the human race from complete annihilation. Then punch him in the face and tell him to take a bath, commie.
Comments
That's pretty cool. Thaks MonsE.
I'm freaking out man!
me and a friend were watching discovery channel and we were talking about using nukes to stop asteriods...
FREAKY!!!!
man I sound like a hippie
/me busts out back-issue of New Scientist
<ul>
<li>Most asteroids are a loose jumble of rock and ice held together by gravity. A nuke set off near this would turn a moderately dangerous slug into a more widely devastating buckshot.
<li>Other asteroids are solid rock or ice. Even if you manage to smash it up with MIRVs you've still got a couple billion tons of rock coming for you. Not good. And I won’t fail to mention that ice is an excellent shock absorber. This fact was shown nicely by the yank’s attempts to bomb icebergs to clear the way for their warships.
<li>The only way to avoid a hit would be to detect it sufficiently far off from collision in order to make a small change to it's orbit at a point, or a gradual change over several years. By either exploding something near it, well out of the range of today’s ICBMs, or landing a small craft on it’s surface with a low-thrust motor on it. Possibly an ion drive. This would have an exponential effect on the asteroids trajectory. Hopefully enough to cause it to miss earth miss earth. But knowing NASA will probably be in charge of the calculations I’m a little hesitant to put my complete faith in this idea. NASA being the space agency that crashed a 4 billion dollar space probe into another planet because they couldn’t convert between thirds of King Henry the First’s arm and a meter.
</ul>
There there, don’t cry now Monsey.
--Scythe--
<-snip> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Of course, said measurements were provided by the Brits, using the Imperial system in a scientific data function, without demarcation... which no one in their right mind uses.
Been said before. Metric for science, Imperial for every-day estimation.
American nubkaeks. Richard Feynman pointed out many shortcomings in NASA's methods of operation 25 years ago, a few years before challenger turned seven aspiring astronauts into flaming chunks of carbon, and they're still making the same mistakes. The US government should divert it's funds from NASA to some other, more competent, space agency.
--Scythe--
They've not killed any of their cosmonauts (Unchecked fact ahoy!) <b>AND</b> they beat the yanks into space.
Just a little problem with corrupt, bureaucratic officials.
--Scythe--
/me busts out back-issue of New Scientist
<ul>
<li>Most asteroids are a loose jumble of rock and ice held together by gravity. A nuke set off near this would turn a moderately dangerous slug into a more widely devastating buckshot.
<li>Other asteroids are solid rock or ice. Even if you manage to smash it up with MIRVs you've still got a couple billion tons of rock coming for you. Not good. And I won’t fail to mention that ice is an excellent shock absorber. This fact was shown nicely by the yank’s attempts to bomb icebergs to clear the way for their warships.
<li>The only way to avoid a hit would be to detect it sufficiently far off from collision in order to make a small change to it's orbit at a point, or a gradual change over several years. By either exploding something near it, well out of the range of today’s ICBMs, or landing a small craft on it’s surface with a low-thrust motor on it. Possibly an ion drive. This would have an exponential effect on the asteroids trajectory. Hopefully enough to cause it to miss earth miss earth. But knowing NASA will probably be in charge of the calculations I’m a little hesitant to put my complete faith in this idea. NASA being the space agency that crashed a 4 billion dollar space probe into another planet because they couldn’t convert between thirds of King Henry the First’s arm and a meter.
</ul>
There there, don’t cry now Monsey.
--Scythe-- <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
gg. wp. pwned.
And I don't believe either that ICBM's would actually destroy a planet-killer meteor.
Strange that myself, one of the most left-wing members of the forums, actually supports nuclear proliferation.
If earth was to be hit be a planet buster asteroid (that's asteroids with and aproximate diameter of 1km and up) we would must likely not know it untill the shockwave hit us.
Today we are not capable of monitering millions of asteroid out there, although some try they can only monitor a fraction of those big chunks of rock out there.
Dunno how many people will get the above, but anyway...
ICBM's averting a meteor sounds dangerous, and it may not even work.
Just a little problem with corrupt, bureaucratic officials.
<!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
While they did beat the US in space, they have killed their cosmonauts. Heck there's some (shaky) evidence that they might have assassinated some of them. Here's a list of some of the dead: <a href='http://www.members.shaw.ca/kcic3/disasters.html' target='_blank'>Space-Related Deaths</a>.
As for nuking things in space, the New Scientist pointed out some of the problems of doing it. However it still said that it was a still an option (even if it'll be a last ditch one).
The Americans spent thousands of dollers designing a pen that would work in zero gravity.
The Russians used pencils.
Strange that myself, one of the most left-wing members of the forums, actually supports nuclear proliferation. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Seconds that
The Americans spent thousands of dollers designing a pen that would work in zero gravity.
The Russians used pencils. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, but the electrically-conductive graphite dust from pencils can float inside the instrumentation, which isn't necessarily a good idea...
On the ICBM issue, if a nuclear weapon <i>was</i> determined to be the only way to Save The Earth From Annihilation, it would probably have to be custom-built and would bear little relation to a conventional Minuteman type device.
So the hippies still win, although they still have to be using nuclear reactors of some sort. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
The Americans spent thousands of dollers designing a pen that would work in zero gravity.
The Russians used pencils. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Quotation False: <a href='http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp' target='_blank'>Space Pen Story</a>
Yes.