Russia Plans to Launch Nuclear Weapons at Asteroid in 2036

[LostCosmonaut 2,349]

Link here (comments section is terminally stupid)

 

Nuclear deflection seems like a pretty good idea for objects of this size. Even if you don't break it up, you can still detonate it standoff and change the velocity quite a bit, which is good enough.  Also, nuclear deflection is about the only thing we have right now that we can use with a lead time less than several years.

 

 

[LostCosmonaut 2,349]

In any case, I personally think Damocloids are just as dangerous as NEOs.

 

• Weird orbits mean that they'll come from out of the ecliptic, where we have less telescopes looking
• Really dark and hard to see
• Absurdly high relative velocities due to retrograde orbits

[Priory_of_Sion 917]

I never got the concern that nuking asteroids would just create a bunch of tiny asteroids. Wouldn't tiny asteroids mostly disintegrate when they enter the atmosphere? 

[EnsignExpendable 3,081]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHD22hqiDGU&feature=youtu.be&t=44

[Waffentrager 83]

I never got the concern that nuking asteroids would just create a bunch of tiny asteroids. Wouldn't tiny asteroids mostly disintegrate when they enter the atmosphere?

It depends. Smaller ones gnash get get caught in the orbit can cause hazards to shuttles and satellites.

[LostCosmonaut 2,349]

I never got the concern that nuking asteroids would just create a bunch of tiny asteroids. Wouldn't tiny asteroids mostly disintegrate when they enter the atmosphere? 

 

Yes. Some people on other websites (ah dot com) who are bad at math think that all those asteroids entering Earth's atmosphere. However, I did a bit of quick math. Earth's atmosphere has a mass of about 5*10^18 kg, and the Chicxulub impactor deposited about 10^21 J of force energy. Using the specific heat value for 300 Kelvin air, you get a net heating of about 1/4 degree (assuming the entire energy of the impactor gets transferred to the atmosphere as heat.