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[Brandz]

A team of British scientists are developing plans for a spacecraft that could stop large asteroids from destroying the Earth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8230138.stm


Sounds cool, so i posted it


it means less cheese from outer space for supeindesu

[JamesD89]

I like the way that it's designed to deflect asteroids years before they could hit earth - then the video shows it hurtling towards the atmosphere and leaving at near enough right angles.

[Brandz]

yeh lol, the scientists would probably let it get close so they could get a better look at it before pushin it away

silly nerds

[stonemonkey]

15 years later they discover somone between europe and the US hadn't converted between metric anid imperial and the rock wasn't originally gonna hit earth. But now with it's new trajectory.......... OOOPS!

[Brandz]

15 years later they discover somone between europe and the US hadn't converted between metric anid imperial and the rock wasn't originally gonna hit earth. But now with it's new trajectory.......... OOOPS!

haha, that would be typical

[supeindesu]

A team of British scientists are developing plans for a spacecraft that could stop large asteroids from destroying the Earth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8230138.stm


Sounds cool, so i posted it


it means less cheese from outer space for supeindesu

Dammit!

In fact NEO's (Near Earth Objects) are quite controled now, almost 90% of the sky.

[McLaren Fan]

Certainly an interesting idea and something worth researching, but it's going to take a little more work.

[stonemonkey]

If it's gonna be solar powered isn't it gonna need propellentless rockets?

[supeindesu]

If it's gonna be solar powered isn't it gonna need propellentless rockets?

Those have a short "life", no fuel, no movement. Ion propeler will be the answer, it needs minusculous ammounts of fuel (Hydrogen, lythium, xenon, ...) and it can collect hydrogen from the very same space, but it has his own defects... starting that his initial speed it's ridiculously slow, but with enough time could achieve an humongous speed (it's acceleration it's exponential, not linear).

[stonemonkey]

If it's gonna be solar powered isn't it gonna need propellentless rockets?

Those have a short "life", no fuel, no movement. Ion propeler will be the answer, it needs minusculous ammounts of fuel (Hydrogen, lythium, xenon, ...) and it can collect hydrogen from the very same space, but it has his own defects... starting that his initial speed it's ridiculously slow, but with enough time could achieve an humongous speed (it's acceleration it's exponential, not linear).

By propellantless I mean a motor that doesn't require a propellant and the only energy/fuel it needs is electricity. not sure if they exist in any form atm or if they ever will though

[supeindesu]

If it's gonna be solar powered isn't it gonna need propellentless rockets?

Those have a short "life", no fuel, no movement. Ion propeler will be the answer, it needs minusculous ammounts of fuel (Hydrogen, lythium, xenon, ...) and it can collect hydrogen from the very same space, but it has his own defects... starting that his initial speed it's ridiculously slow, but with enough time could achieve an humongous speed (it's acceleration it's exponential, not linear).

By propellantless I mean a motor that doesn't require a propellant and the only energy/fuel it needs is electricity. not sure if they exist in any form atm or if they ever will though

You need a mass to produce the movement in space, mass means gravity, gravity means push. Ion engines produces ions from, for example, hydrogen, they are expelled creating a really tiny push, invisible at the beginning, but everytime that happens creates an exponential push related to the previous... by now, an engine like that will take months to reach the moon while an liquid fuel powered takes about 4 days...

http://www.esa.int/esaMI/SMART-1/SEMSDE1A6BD_0.html