How to deflect an incoming asteroid
October 28, 2012
Send space-launched white paint balls on pellets, says Sung Wook Paek, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The pellets would deflect the asteroid and the white surface (albedo) would continue to reflect sunlight — and in 20 years, this bouncing of photons off its surface could create enough of a force to push the asteroid off its course.
Paek won the 2012 Move an Asteroid Technical Paper Competition, sponsored by the United Nations’ Space Generation Advisory Council.
Source: MIT
Comments (3)
by Bob Vasquez
There are lot’s of good ideas on how to deflect an asteriod(s); the question, however, is whether we or the community of nations will either stop quibbling over “wars” on everything from drugs, terrorism, women; and, next, it will be a war on FEMA or Big Bird.
by GatorALLin
Love the creative thinking of this paint ball approach with dual effect. More excuses to put mini-gun paintballs in space…(grin). Can they shoot a few of these paint balls on the moon to make sure they work as expected?
by golly gosh
Why not just move one object into the path of another as either an interceptor or as an attractor, pulling or destroying incoming objects. All you would need is one steerable sufficiently mass heavy object to gently pull most other objects out of the way of any potential harm. Earth could have a new space garbage collection system with many steerable objects, pulling or intercepting harmful objects – just an idea.