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Questions tagged [impact]

Questions regarding the collision of one thing with another

0 votes
2 answers
129 views

How deep a crater could an impactor spacecraft cause on Mars?

What would the best way be to crash an impactor into Mars with greatest topological effect? And how deep a crater could it excavate? Mars missions to date have been designed to approach the planet at ...
LocalFluff's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

What is the typical relative impact velocity of orbital debris in low Earth orbit?

We all know that space is about going really fast. We also know that what matters in a collision isn't really absolute speed, but relative velocity. (Two cars with matched speeds on a highway touching ...
user's user avatar
  • 7,330
9 votes
1 answer
576 views

Which two satellites had a 44% probability of collision at 2017-01-07 21:53 UTC?

I saw this message on space-track.org: The JSpOC has identified a close approach between two non-maneuverable satellites in a sun-synchronous orbit (approximately 800km altitude) with a time of ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
16 votes
6 answers
8k views

Can a nuclear detonation on Moon destroy life on Earth?

If a nuclear weapon is detonated on the moon it would launch debris into space. The debris would then fall to earth like asteroids. Would this impact wipe out life on Earth? In other words, are our ...
Allahjane's user avatar
  • 323
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 ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
1 vote
1 answer
133 views

Impact shielding and damage control of a manned Interplanetary spacecraft [closed]

We've all seen pictures of micrometeorite and debris damage, and we've all heard the wisdom that at orbital speeds a paint chip is more lethal than a rifle round. We also know that having holes ...
UIDAlexD's user avatar
  • 1,108
1 vote
1 answer
160 views

Where to read about early work in the detection of dust impacts on solar observing spacecraft?

I've read in a side note included in this nice answer that : Fun Side Note: The FIELDS instrument is planning to look for dust by detecting the electric field pulses resulting from the plasma ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
2 votes
2 answers
311 views

Will LAGEOS burn up or be destroyed on impact?

The LAGEOS satellites have plaques that try to explain what they are without using any words or decimal numbers or similar 'current' concepts. To me, this suggests we expect the satellites to last ...
stripybadger's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
966 views

What happens to a spacecraft crashing into the Moon?

When planning a new architecture for lunar missions, one always faces the potential of nuclear thermal engines. Having a much higher $I_{sp}$, they offer a much higher propellant efficiency, causing a ...
SE - stop firing the good guys's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
193 views

Iridum-Cosmos post-collision vectors

I've been looking at this article. This question is about the motion of fragments in the immediate aftermath of the collision. I've drawn the following figures and quotes from the link. Figure 9 ...
Puffin's user avatar
  • 9,754
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 ...
Astroynamicist's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
14k views

What impact would a pea size meteor have when it hits the ground?

If a meteorite the size of a pea landed on the road in front of you, what sort of impact would it have? How big would it have been when it entered the atmosphere and would it have been visible during ...
Rian's user avatar
  • 183
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 ...
Stumbler's user avatar
  • 287
6 votes
2 answers
711 views

What would happen if an object larger than Jupiter hit Jupiter?

What would happen if a large non-gaseous body, equal to or greater than that of Jupiter hits with Jupiter? My assumption is the larger body (name it as A) will have a large gravity and a large mass ...
SpringLearner's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
8k views

What would happen if an Earth-sized body encountered Jupiter?

As we all know Jupiter is a gaseous planet so what would happen if an Earth-sized object happened to encounter Jupiter? Would Jupiter engulf the object and make it stay at Jupiter's core? Would the ...
SpringLearner's user avatar

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