Why can’t we destroy an asteroid headed for Earth?

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Why can’t we destroy an asteroid headed for Earth?

In the movies we see asteroids destroyed all the time by drilling and nuking them or somehow splitting them apart right in the nick of time. This is not something can can really be done and in this Podcast we explain why.

  1. usko says:

    Another way to divert a NEO would be via a flexible impact from a high mass kinetic impactor.

    ESA’s Don Quijote is an asteroid deflection precursor mission concept, designed to assess and validate the technology that one day could be used to deflect an asteroid threatening the Earth.

    More details here: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/NEO/SEMZRZNVGJE_0.html

    • necher says:

      if we are living in 2065 and an asteroid of 260m size is coming towards earth and it will reach on earth in 2088 how we can protet our earth can u tell me plz.

  2. seg says:

    That's not the reason you “CAN'T” destroy an asteroid headed for Earth, that's the reason why you SHOULDN'T.
    Although I don't entirely agree with the Podcasters idea of “let it hit us and take it from there”, because breaking the asteroid up into enough small pieces would increase each piece's surface area and allow more of the asteroid to disintegrate in the atmosphere before hitting the ground, thereby reducing the impact. (A few tsunamis and global warming is better than total destruction).
    The other solution presented is entirely impractical. We do not have the means or resources to launch enough mass into space and have it reach the incoming asteroid far away enough that its gravity will have an impact (keeping in mind we'd need to surpass Earth's escape velocity, and the perform several gravity assists to rendezvous with the asteroid's hyperbolic trajectory).

  3. That was my point about having more time and distance before the predicted impact. Mass is Mass, and with enough time, that relatively tiny bit of mass could be enough to nudge the killer rock out of the way.

  4. timeloyd says:

    Why destroy the asteroid amd blow it up which would create and send pieaces of it in different dirrections possibly still towards Earth. True they would probably burn up if entering Earth's atmosphere, but what if it dosen't blow up or too big a chunk OF IT left ?..

    All that would have to be done to save the Earth is to deflect or change it's course or direction so it would not be headed toward the Earth.

    This can be done useing a rocket on the Asteroid the way a Pool Q would hit a Pool Ball. Let's find the world's greatest and most accurate Pool player to aim the rocket like the tip of a Pool Stick to hit the Asteroid at the right angle like a Pool Ball to knock it so it will change it's direction, miss the Earth and end up in a side pocket in space like a Black Hole.

    Another possible way would be to senda rockets with a highly reflective paint to paint one side of the Astroid so that the Suns rays would heat one side more then the other and cause a change in the direction of the Astroid through useing the Power of the Sun . This might be a tad more complicated then striking it like a Pool Ball to deflect the Asteroid.

    Putting up a sign IN SPACE saying ~ Earth Ahead Detour Required ~ would not work unless the Astroid is inhabited and or controlled by intelligent life forms.

    The only other question is what minerals is the Asteroid made out of and could we try to obtain and use them without damaging the Earth in the process. If the Asteroid contained Gold like some Asteroids mentioned on Doctor Who would we try to mine it before it hit or wait for the hit more eagerly.

    REMEMBER WHERE YOUR TOWEL IS ~ LIVE LONG AND PROSPER .. ~ =O

  5. letskillrednecks says:

    oh please yet another tit sucking liberal with it's pleas to avoid using bombs against mother nature.

  6. Jc says:

    I have just heard of Russia trying to defend Earth from an Asteroid about to hit in 2029 it seems to be that they’re not trying to destroy it either as mentioned in this video clip, it seems to be more smarter and more common sense that just trying to just blow it away would be a much more greater idea instead of destroying it.