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09-23-2005, 07:28 PM
A VIRTUAL game of interplanetary pool has revealed the best way to knock an asteroid off course and prevent it colliding with the Earth.
Several earlier studies have simulated the effects of firing a projectile at a menacing asteroid to change its orbital velocity and hence its trajectory. But they all included simplifications, for instance that the projectile would hit the rock head-on or from behind, a so-called parallel attack, rather than at an oblique angle.
Now Ekkehard Khrt, Ralph Kahle and Gerhard Hahn from the German Aerospace Center in Berlin have designed a more sophisticated mathematical model. It takes account of the gravitational influence of the moon and all the planets, including the Earth, and selects the best angle of attack to make sure an asteroid passes the Earth at a safe distance of twice the planet's radius. "It's a very complex simulation," says Khrt.
The team applied the model to 100 hypothetical asteroids and one real one, 99942 Apophis, which has a tiny chance of colliding with Earth in the mid-2030s. "In 2029, it will pass about 30,000 kilometres away from Earth, which is very close. We can definitely rule out a collision then. But we can't rule out a collision in the mid-2030s. Maybe in 2034 or 2036, it could impact the Earth. And in this case, we would have to design a mission to push it away," says Khrt.
The results show that if an asteroid is only two or three orbits away from an Earth impact, an oblique strike can nudge it into a safe orbit much more efficiently than a parallel attack because it requires much less force.
Khrt announced the results last week at the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Cambridge, UK. He thinks we could easily head off an asteroid such as 99942 Apophis. The rock is only about 320 metres wide, but if it hit Earth, it could devastate an entire country and trigger earthquakes and tsunamis.
Earlier this year, the NASA spacecraft Deep Impact fired a projectile into comet Tempel 1. Khrt says the impact changed its speed by about 10-7 metres per second. To deflect an asteroid safely, he says you would need to change the speed by about 10-6 metres per second. "We have a very good chance of deflecting an object like [99942 Apophis]," says Khrt. "It could be done with technology available today."
Several earlier studies have simulated the effects of firing a projectile at a menacing asteroid to change its orbital velocity and hence its trajectory. But they all included simplifications, for instance that the projectile would hit the rock head-on or from behind, a so-called parallel attack, rather than at an oblique angle.
Now Ekkehard Khrt, Ralph Kahle and Gerhard Hahn from the German Aerospace Center in Berlin have designed a more sophisticated mathematical model. It takes account of the gravitational influence of the moon and all the planets, including the Earth, and selects the best angle of attack to make sure an asteroid passes the Earth at a safe distance of twice the planet's radius. "It's a very complex simulation," says Khrt.
The team applied the model to 100 hypothetical asteroids and one real one, 99942 Apophis, which has a tiny chance of colliding with Earth in the mid-2030s. "In 2029, it will pass about 30,000 kilometres away from Earth, which is very close. We can definitely rule out a collision then. But we can't rule out a collision in the mid-2030s. Maybe in 2034 or 2036, it could impact the Earth. And in this case, we would have to design a mission to push it away," says Khrt.
The results show that if an asteroid is only two or three orbits away from an Earth impact, an oblique strike can nudge it into a safe orbit much more efficiently than a parallel attack because it requires much less force.
Khrt announced the results last week at the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Cambridge, UK. He thinks we could easily head off an asteroid such as 99942 Apophis. The rock is only about 320 metres wide, but if it hit Earth, it could devastate an entire country and trigger earthquakes and tsunamis.
Earlier this year, the NASA spacecraft Deep Impact fired a projectile into comet Tempel 1. Khrt says the impact changed its speed by about 10-7 metres per second. To deflect an asteroid safely, he says you would need to change the speed by about 10-6 metres per second. "We have a very good chance of deflecting an object like [99942 Apophis]," says Khrt. "It could be done with technology available today."
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09-23-2005, 07:49 PM
That news sux.............:omg: 
oliceLig :wtf1: :help:
oliceLig :wtf1: :help:
09-23-2005, 10:43 PM
That sucks, I hope it never happens!
09-24-2005, 01:22 AM
Beef Wrote:We're screwed :Wave:
alute:
09-24-2005, 06:22 PM
These things come around at least once every year. They are fake and simply just hoax's to get people riled up.
THIS IS FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS IS FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
09-24-2005, 08:30 PM
ehhhhh scary!!!!!!
09-25-2005, 12:46 AM
DTfan Wrote:Fake or not CE it's still scary to think about because it could very well happen.
It's very scary to think about!
09-25-2005, 03:09 AM
It can only be deadly if the asteroid is high iron-density. Other asteroids simply break up upon entering the atmosphere. It is also a 1 in 15,000 shot that it will enter the atmosphere at the right angle or come close enough to enter without being sent into an orbit.
09-25-2005, 06:42 AM
ComfortEagle Wrote:It can only be deadly if the asteroid is high iron-density. Other asteroids simply break up upon entering the atmosphere. It is also a 1 in 15,000 shot that it will enter the atmosphere at the right angle or come close enough to enter without being sent into an orbit.
We know that, but there's still a chance. It's a scary thing when you think about it.
09-25-2005, 03:21 PM
Ah, I just don't think it'll happen. I mean it's kind of like the thing that happened with the movie Jaws. But for our generation it is Armageddon, just as Jaws scared people of shark attacks, Armageddon and movies of the like have made us afraid of Hollywood-like disasters.
09-25-2005, 03:28 PM
ComfortEagle Wrote:Ah, I just don't think it'll happen. I mean it's kind of like the thing that happened with the movie Jaws. But for our generation it is Armageddon, just as Jaws scared people of shark attacks, Armageddon and movies of the like have made us afraid of Hollywood-like disasters.
I don't think it will happen either
09-25-2005, 04:49 PM
but who is to say we dont have nukes in space for "the safety of earth" even though they are most likely pointed in the earths direction...
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