Re: [Starlink] Hitting an atira asteroid with a spacex starship?

[Dave Taht <dave.taht@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Nov 3, 2022 at 10:37 AM Bruce Perens <bruce@perens.com> wrote:
>
> If you own a 50 ton spaceship, please do not intentionally hit any asteroids or other objects with it.

Song of the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RbXIMZmVv8

>What you get is smaller objects heading in different directions at different velocities, none of which are all that predictable, and in total more danger to objects in space than before and still significant danger to ground objects.

Space is a big place, and I'm pretty sure the orbit, impact, and
debris could be tracked.

What would you do with a starship that after launch, due to lost
tiles, or other problems is certain to burn up on re-entry? Why not
test getting out of orbit?

>What you want is to turn it harmless. This is done by gently attaching to it and then giving it a controlled push.

That takes all the fun out of it. Impact is so much easier. Our
knowledge of the solar system is only skin deep.

>
> I've been curious about what one could do over time just using the pressure of light from the ground, or enough light to gassify material to add delta V, however high power devices for this would also be effective weapons.

And kinetic weapons aren't?

>     Thanks
>
>     Bruce
>
> On Thu, Nov 3, 2022 at 5:28 PM Dave Taht via Starlink <starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
>>
>> So, what would happen if we hit one of these (3 new ones discovered
>> yesterday) with 50tons of starship, at 15 klicks per second? [1]
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atira_asteroid
>>
>> the three new ones, discovered and announced a day or three back:
>>
>> https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/three-near-earth-asteroids-were-hiding-in-the-suns-glare-180981055/
>>
>> (Atira class are rocks within earth orbit. They are very hard to see,
>> probably overly baked (low on volatiles), and get bright sun all the
>> time)
>>
>> [1] I'm very inspired by DART, but afraid to do the math for this
>> tonnage and speed. (anyone? there's a LOT of zeroes... ) I have
>> project ploughshare on my mind, except kinetic, and it's less
>> deflection on my mind than reducing a rubble pile to rubble,
>> identifying the good pieces, and bringing them back.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> This song goes out to all the folk that thought Stadia would work:
>> https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dtaht_the-mushroom-song-activity-6981366665607352320-FXtz
>> Dave Täht CEO, TekLibre, LLC
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>
>
>
> --
> Bruce Perens K6BP



-- 
This song goes out to all the folk that thought Stadia would work:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dtaht_the-mushroom-song-activity-6981366665607352320-FXtz
Dave Täht CEO, TekLibre, LLC