Book Synopsis Challenges of Deflecting an Asteroid Or Cometary Nucleus with a Nuclear Burst by :
Download or read book Challenges of Deflecting an Asteroid Or Cometary Nucleus with a Nuclear Burst written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are many natural disasters that humanity has to deal with over time. These include earthquakes, tsunami, hurricanes, floods, asteroid strikes, and so on. Many of these disasters occur slowly enough that some advance warning of which areas will be affected is possible. However, in almost all cases, the response is to evacuate the area to be affected and deal with the damage later. The evacuations for hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the US Gulf Coast in 2005 demonstrated the chaos that can result. In contrast with other natural disasters. it is likely that an asteroid or cometary nucleus on a collision course with Earth is likely to be detected with enough warning time to possibly deflect it away from the collision course. Thanks to near-Earth object (NEO) surveys, people are working towards a goal of cataloging at least 90% of all near-Earth objects with diameters larger than (almost equal to)140 meters in the next decade. The question is how to mitigate the threat from an asteroid or cometary nucleus found to be on a collision course. We briefly review some possible methods, describing their good and bad points, and then embark on a more detailed description of using a nuclear munition in standoff mode to deflect an asteroid or cometary nucleus before it can hit Earth.
