All Questions
13
questions
4
votes
1
answer
215
views
How different would a comet impact be vs. an asteroid impact?
If a 50 meter asteroid caused a 1.5 kilometer crater as Barringer Crater is described, how different would the impact of a 50 meter comet be, assuming the comet was 85% water and other volatiles, with ...
- 1,756
3
votes
0
answers
333
views
Is there an estimate for the average mass of all meteoroids and asteroids hitting Earth's atmosphere in one year?
I wonder how much mass is entering Earth's atmosphere every year in the form of meteoroids and asteroids. This excludes micro-meteoroids, dust particles, molecules etc.
Quick search result talks only ...
- 5,505
52
votes
5
answers
16k
views
Does NASA have an end-of-the-world policy?
If an asteroid were detected, shooting towards earth with enough speed and certainty that it would all but guarantee a sequel of the end of the dinosaurs. Observatories and space agencies would almost ...
- 3,055
4
votes
1
answer
599
views
How big an asteroid could we take out with an ICBM?
Obviously it's not going to be all that big as the intercept would occur only a few minutes before impact and the rubble is still going to hit. However, if the pieces are small enough they go boom in ...
- 11.6k
3
votes
1
answer
200
views
Are there any equations out there that can calculate the burnup of an asteroid depending on angle?
Are there any equations that can calculate the burnup of an asteroid depending on the angle? I want to be able to calculate the magnitude of an asteroid impact with the angle being the changeable ...
- 31
1
vote
1
answer
147
views
How did fictional asteroid 2019 PDC get its name?
Gizmodo's NASA and FEMA Will Simulate an Impending Asteroid Strike Next Week
The hypothetical discovery takes place in 2019, but what does "PDC" stand for?
Perhaps it is another "discovery" by the ...
- 149k
3
votes
1
answer
275
views
How predictable is one asteroid's trajectory?
If one fictitious probe mission was to impact an asteroid fast enough to destroy it using its kinetic energy, could the asteroid's trajectory be predicted accurately enough (plumes or emanations or ...
user19132
16
votes
1
answer
636
views
Would the one million people on Mars be killed by an impact equivalent to an Extinction Level Event on Earth
If there are cities on Mars in the second half of this century with say a million people, they will be living in engineered structures and sustained by agriculture in protected, controlled ...
- 149k
6
votes
1
answer
638
views
Understanding gravitational keyhole analysis for Near-Earth Objects
I've been studying the resonant return and gravitational keyhole analysis for NEOs and using the extension of Öpik's theory of close encounters (aka Öpik-Valsecchi theory, Valsecchi et al., Astron ...
- 251
2
votes
2
answers
171
views
Planet building: collision without fragmentation?
Our Solar system poses a significant problem for colonisation insofar that the rocky planets are predominantly on the... small scale; at least as far as mass is concerned (Earth is the exception ...
- 287
10
votes
3
answers
740
views
Could we deal with an asteroid threat given current technology?
If we discovered a sizeable (Tunguska-like mass or larger) near-earth object tomorrow that was on a definite collision course with Earth in the near future, could we deal with it with our current ...
- 773
12
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Is it (or why is it) worse to break up a asteroid on a collision course with Earth?
It is quite common to find (pseudo?) scientific statements to the effect that blowing up asteroids which are heading our way is a very bad idea, and that the movie Armageddon got this point totally ...
- 221
14
votes
1
answer
5k
views
How frequently do asteroids collide with each other?
Space is empty ... lots of empty. Apparently so empty that the risk of collision between a spacecraft of our times, and an asteroid in the asteroid belt is said to be infinitesimal.
Running a search ...
- 13.6k