I guess there could be some energy impacted by an impactor, even if the body isn't really solid?

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On Mon, 25 Sep 2023 21:02:43 -0700 (PDT), RichA <rander3128@gmail.com>
wrote:

I guess there could be some energy impacted by an impactor, even if the body isn't really solid?

The approach I think is coolest is to just explode a big tank of white
or black powder onto one side and let radiation pressure move the
body. Of course, that requires enough advance notice that a small
nudge is all that is required. You could probably nuke most of the
asteroids likely to cause us problems and turn them into harmless
smaller pieces.

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On 2023-09-26 04:02:43 +0000, RichA said:

I guess there could be some energy impacted by an impactor, even if the
body isn't really solid?

An impactor works if it doesn't break the asteroid and doesn't throw too
much of the rubble away. Any asteroid worth of the effort is big enough
that the impactor does not fly through it.

Mikko

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On Tue, 26 Sep 2023 18:34:25 +0300, Mikko <mikko.levanto@iki.fi>
wrote:

On 2023-09-26 04:02:43 +0000, RichA said:

I guess there could be some energy impacted by an impactor, even if the
body isn't really solid?

An impactor works if it doesn't break the asteroid and doesn't throw too
much of the rubble away. Any asteroid worth of the effort is big enough
that the impactor does not fly through it.

Breaking it up can be an excellent solution. As the rubble is likely
no larger than tens of meters, it becomes largely harmless if it
impacts the Earth.

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On Tuesday, September 26, 2023 at 12:02:45 AM UTC-4, RichA wrote:

I guess there could be some energy impacted by an impactor, even if the body isn't really solid?

One could hit the asteroid multiple times in such a way as to increase its spin rate and let centrifugal force throw off some of the rubble.

Or launch some size-able mass from the Moon and send it on a fly-by of the asteroid, altering the asteroid's orbit slightly.

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On Tuesday, 26 September 2023 at 15:47:57 UTC+1, Chris L Peterson wrote:

On Mon, 25 Sep 2023 21:02:43 -0700 (PDT), RichA <rande...@gmail.com>
wrote:

I guess there could be some energy impacted by an impactor, even if the body isn't really solid?

The approach I think is coolest is to just explode a big tank of white
or black powder onto one side and let radiation pressure move the
body. Of course, that requires enough advance notice that a small
nudge is all that is required. You could probably nuke most of the
asteroids likely to cause us problems and turn them into harmless
smaller pieces.

That assumes that the target asteroid is not spinning

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On Thu, 28 Sep 2023 12:56:58 -0700 (PDT), Mike Collins <acridiniumester@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tuesday, 26 September 2023 at 15:47:57 UTC+1, Chris L Peterson wrote:

On Mon, 25 Sep 2023 21:02:43 -0700 (PDT), RichA <rande...@gmail.com>
wrote:

I guess there could be some energy impacted by an impactor, even if the body isn't really solid?

The approach I think is coolest is to just explode a big tank of white
or black powder onto one side and let radiation pressure move the
body. Of course, that requires enough advance notice that a small
nudge is all that is required. You could probably nuke most of the
asteroids likely to cause us problems and turn them into harmless
smaller pieces.

That assumes that the target asteroid is not spinning

No, it works with a spinning asteroid. Making it lighter makes it more responsive to radiation pressure. Doing it non-uniformly increases the
YORP effect, which could spin up a rubble pile until is disintegrates.
Making it darker increases the Yarkovsky effect. All of these offer
protective strategies, depending on the nature of the body and how
much time is available to intervene.

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