Avoiding asteroid?

Question

Im doin a project about avoiding asteroid frm hitting the earth..

There are few ways:

1) trap the asteroid into a safe orbit.

2) use nuclear missle to blast the asteroid

3) use sapceship to tug the asteroid gradually off its course so that it leaves the earth orbit.

Anyone can help me about this? Giv me more ideas about it :D "The advantages and disadvantages of each suggestion"

Answer 1

a nuke could never work it would be like a speeding bullet hitting a small pile of rocks : the rocks shoot of in evry direction spreadong them out and hitting in multiple area of the earth

Answer 2

1) Requires lot's of fuel depending on asteroid size and delivery of rocket engines at the right spots.

2) Is a very simple solution, but also the solution with the highest risks. Three 100m segments cause more damage on Earth as a single 200m asteroid.

3) practically same as 1) Asteroids are rarely in Earth Orbit, they only pass the sphere of influence of Earth. Instead of capturing it, only a small push is needed to make the asteroid miss this time, if you have enough time between the push and the predicted impact. A small push still requires more material in form of fuel and engines as even the biggest rocket today can lift.

Answer 3

1) I've no idea what mechanism you're considering.

2) Nuking an asteroid into bits may not help at all.  Even if you reduce it to dust, the impact energy of the dust stays about the same.  It could actually be worse, by spreading the pain.

3) Using heavy spaceships as a gravity tug has two problems.  One is that putting alot of mass in space is expensive.  And, no matter how big you make it, it's going to be a slow process.

Other ideas include using nukes to heat one side of the asteroid.  Vaporizing one side will allow material from the asteroid itself to act as a rocket to deflect the object.  The object may still break up - which could be bad.

Shining a very bright light at one side can also create the rocket effect.  One way to do that is to put a very large mirror in space, and focus the Sun's light.  The mirror shape doesn't have to be very accurate.  The mirror doesn't have to be very thick - less than tinfoil over an umbrella like frame.  You don't have to bring the energy - you get it from the Sun.

Painting the asteroid can cause the Sun's light to deflect the asteroid.  Light has pressure.  It has more or less pressure for white or black objects.

There are lots of other ideas.

Answer 4

4) Use a spaceship to blast the asteroid to bits!!!

And they said all those hours you spent playing Asteroids was a waste of time!

Answer 5

I guess I have to be the one to tell you...

THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO! NOTHING!

Answer 6

As far as I've heard, the plan for 1 is identical to the plan for 3.  

1/3.) In changing an asteroid's orbit, the further from Earth it is, the less its orbit needs to be changed.  If we change it by a billionth of a degree when its out by Saturn, that would have about the effect of changing it a full degree by Mars.  It'd probably have to be changed more than that, though.  A spaceship would have to be sent out that was either really massive or going really far.  Either way, it would cost a lot of money, although it wouldn't be as expensive as letting the Earth be destroyed.  It would probably be cheaper to build a less massive, further-traveling rocket, but then it takes time to get to the right point in space, and if it's out of place, it misses the asteroid, which crashes into Earth.  

2.) Unless they've adapted nuclear missiles to spaceships, they have to launch them from the ground, or on a kamikaze ship.  That means the asteroid would have to be uncomfortably close to Earth when it's hit.  If the nuke misses, we're screwed.  If the nuke hits, a few things could happen.  It could blow the asteroid up into a lot of tiny pieces - unlikely but possible.  It could blow the main part of the asteroid up and hit us with thousands of tiny asteroids and a few tons of molten radioactive space metal - more likely.  It's not a very good idea unless they adapt a nuclear warhead to some sort of spaceship.

Answer 7

heres a few ways

1) gravity tractor

2) solar sail

and 3 the best for last) bruce willis!