What is Digg?161 Comments
- dbhalla, on 07/27/2008, -4/+76my talent as an artist tells me that picture has been photoshopped
- michaelpinto, on 07/27/2008, -3/+50Nukes may not be the best way to destroy an asteroid, but it's the most fun way to do it! In fact it's the most fun way to pretty much destroy anything...
- SpiritOfRock, on 07/27/2008, -12/+50I propose we just launch Chuck Norris at them and let him do his thing.
- RogerStrong, on 07/27/2008, -0/+32a) A thermonuke here on earth does most of it's damage by sending a massive shockwave through the air in all directions. Out at the asteroid, there's no air to do this.
b) Many asteroids are thought to be not one big solid rock, but essentially rubble piles or even dust piles held together by common gravity. If you pop a nuke on one, it flys apart and gravity pulls it back together.
c) Popping a nuke could turn one big rock heading for earth into a bunch or rocks heading for earth - like being hit by a shotgun blast instead of a bullet. Back 50 years ago the Russians and Americans were experimenting with bigger and bigger thermonukes. They discovered that the bigger it was, the more energy they lost going straight up into space. A bunch of smaller warheads on an ICBM would do more damage than one big warhead. - rrife, on 07/28/2008, -0/+29I think we should split the planet into 2 halves and go around the astroid.
- cquinnd, on 07/28/2008, -1/+30You can't use Jack Bauer, because there's NOT ENOUGH TIME!
- dha07030, on 07/27/2008, -3/+29Haven't scientist been saying this for years already? I still find it hard to believe that multiple 50 to 100 megaton warheads could not "redirect" at least a relatively small asteroid. By all means think of other ideas, but if an asteroid is definitely going to hit us, I would want somebody to shoot at it Even as a last resort. Call me old fashion. I guess it is just hard for people to see a nuclear weapon as a tool.
- oo7evan, on 07/28/2008, -0/+23But Billy Bob Thorton already explained with a simple analogy of a firecracker in your hand. And he has numerous fake PhDs.
- chevyorange, on 07/27/2008, -2/+23Use the Wave Motion Gun!
- SeventhSon, on 07/28/2008, -1/+22Whatever, I was there when this picture was taken.
- DeskFlyer, on 07/28/2008, -1/+21Including my neighbor's annoying chihuahua.
- RogerStrong, on 07/28/2008, -1/+20Alas, what we don't have is hundreds or even dozens of spare launchers. They're pretty much built as ordered. Former ICBMs are putting small payloads into low-earth orbit, but your mission will require something bigger - like an Atlas V with a Centaur upper stage. And then you need a spacecraft to carry the bomb - it's not going to guide itself, power itself, communicate with earth by itself or make course corrections by itself.
You'd need a decade or so of advanced warning to have large numbers of launchers and spacecraft ready, for a flight that might take a couple years. We may not have that much time. - soupnrc, on 07/28/2008, -3/+21These scientists obviously don't know anything!
Didn't anyone see Armageddon? All you need to do is find some oil riggers in the middle of the ocean to put the nuke in a hole on the asteroid before they try to blow it up.
Psh... amateurs... - strictnein, on 07/28/2008, -1/+19Yes, that's why he stated that it was.
- JasonCox, on 07/28/2008, -2/+16Nukes may not be the best way, but with the way this planet's governments work, they'll be our only option. I don't see us building an asteroid-pusher-mover-thing without at least 5 debates in the UN, 2 filibusters in the US Congress over whether or not destroying the asteroid supports the troops (plus the 'Destroy The Asteroid' bill will get vetoed by the President because it increases farm subsidies), massive protests in Europe and one war with Iran because the asteroid is coincidentally going to hit Israel so it must be there fault.
I heart our fraked up world.
Edit: WTH Digg, I cant use an ASCII heart? Boo. - jhandfield, on 07/28/2008, -1/+14Thinking outside the box, I like that! NASA needs more people like you!
- grumpyrain, on 07/28/2008, -1/+14I can tell by the pixels
- catcher6250, on 07/28/2008, -1/+13Why would you bury such a rare thing
- aComa, on 07/28/2008, -0/+12http://sfwchan.com/pics/93711684.jpg
- dha07030, on 07/27/2008, -1/+11That is what I was going for, multiple hits at once. Send dozens, hell hundreds, we have enough to spare.
- jhandfield, on 07/28/2008, -1/+11But without a massive explosion visible to apparently the entire world all at once (still haven't figured that one out), how will Aerosmith know when to kick in with the crescendo!?
Besides, sounds like a fun way to dispose of old nukes. It's like shooting cans off a fence, only on a much, much larger scale. - AmyVernon, on 07/27/2008, -4/+13you mean Jack Bauer.
- biznatch11, on 07/28/2008, -2/+11I can't wait for the headlines... "Giant ASS-teroid rear-ended by unmanned spacecraft!"
- RogerStrong, on 07/28/2008, -1/+10Btw, you want to use "multiple 50 to 100 megaton warheads."
The only such warhead ever detonated (Tzar Bomba) weighed 27 tons. No launcher exists that can take it beyond low earth orbit.
The Saturn V could have, but we won't be seeing any more of those. The Ares V will - in ten years - *IF* it gets funded beyond the early design stage. With neither candidate being pro-space, and Obama planning to effectively kill the current plans, don't hold your breath. - whisperedlie, on 07/28/2008, -0/+9i'm all about rear-ending heavenly bodies
- bigdickensfan, on 07/28/2008, -1/+9fool, we have to use diamondillium!
- ballsnark, on 07/28/2008, -2/+10So damn tired of Chuck Norris joke.
- vinceislegend, on 07/28/2008, -1/+8Perhaps a shield of diamondium covering the entire planet?
- latrosicarius, on 07/28/2008, -2/+9he says the best way is not to use a nuke, but to nudge them off course? Well, can't a nuke nudge them off course?
- inactive, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6But what if the asteroid just hides in a fridge?
- Nintendesert, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6Is there a part two to your post where you provide the quote?
- RogerStrong, on 07/28/2008, -1/+7Sure, you can get some force from ablation from the light, gamma, and x-rays. But you've still lost most of the force associated with nukes here on earth. Enough so that gravity tractors and continiously firing low-thrust rockets start to look better by comparison.
And yes, the guidance technology is 'proven'. But our nuclear arsenal doesn't have this guidance technology. Nor the communications systems. Nor the power systems. You can't just stick the nukes on bigger rockets. You need to build a fleet of spacecraft to carry them.
What you CAN do is build your thermonukes as enormous shaped charges - read up on Orion spacecraft (the ones powered by popping nukes behind them, from plans in the 1950s.) This'll improve performance - but now even your nukes need to be designed and built from scratch. - SetUpUsTheBmb, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6"No, nukes aren't the best thing. Well maybe they are the best thing. Ok nukes are really the only thing we got." gj nasa
- RogerStrong, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6Large bombs could probably be made smaller - but there may be some hard limits on this.
A lot of the parts for the Saturn V are no longer made, and a lot of the companies no longer exist. (1) And alas, any launcher designed without solid rocket boosters built in Utah would likely be blocked in congress, even if the fate of the world were at stake. Rushing Ares V is probably your best bet.
The alternative is an idea people have been kicking around: A cheap booster used for lifting bulk goods like fuel - where you simply accept a higher failure rate. If one fails you launch another, without stopping launches for two years while you investigate. This system wouldn't have anywhere near the redundency or complexity of a Saturn V.
(1) Weird history: Winning the space race was a triumph of American socialism over Soviet capitalism.
The Russians had competing companies making their space hardware, competing for contracts and polical patronage. The people running the bigger companies hated each other. There was little cooperation, and a lot of duplication of effort. One company would build an entire launch system.
The American government on the other had dictated How It Would Be Done, assigned everyone a role, and put Jack Webb in charge. With the Saturn V, one company built the first stage, another built the first stage engines, another built the second stage, another built the second stage engines, another built the interstage ring that held flight computers and batteries, etc. The LEM was built by Grumman, the Command/Service Module by North American Aviation, etc.
And this was all was Lyndon Johnson's way of dragging the American south into the 20th century. Think of the stereotype of folks from Alabama. Now consider that Huntsville - where rockets are designed - has the highest concentration of engineers per capita. Thank the space program. Add rocket manufacturing in New Orleans, solid rocket booster manufacturing in Utah, mission control in Houston, launches in Florida, and other space labs, centers, and manufacturing facilities all ovet the south.
Yup, a triumph of American socialism over Soviet capitalism. Weird. - thcobbs, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6Nah, the best way to stop an Asteroid is with a planet!! I mean, isn't it obvious?
- vinceislegend, on 07/28/2008, -3/+9I'll be the first to admit that I have dugg up meme-based comments. I have even made a few.
But this one is not funny, it's ***** stupid and it needs to die. Buried for the comment, and then for replying to yourself. - Torpov, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6DAMN IT, CHLOE.
- slifty, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6I wonder if a knowing look would have a similar effect...
- inactive, on 07/28/2008, -5/+11***** you, two of my friends died digging up memes.
- DeskFlyer, on 07/28/2008, -1/+7You're going to need to return to English class.
- Metatron197, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5you and mcain
- Tyorant, on 07/28/2008, -1/+6We could have the religious on one half and the atheist on the other. Then leave it like that permanently. :D
- b0rna, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5He also built his own rocket in a barn and went to space with it.
- Ex3poo, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5The picture scares the ***** outta me.
- bitterbug, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5George Carlin dies yet you still walk the Earth.
Sigh. - Glenchuck, on 07/28/2008, -1/+6When a nuke blows up, a cloud of hot particles expands at near the speed of light.
On Earth, they transfer their momentum to the atmosphere, and the shock wave in the atmosphere transfers the energy to the surrounding area.
In space, the cloud of hot particles hits everything directly, and transfers the momentum even more efficiently. - buba1243, on 07/28/2008, -0/+4ElectroMagnetic Pulse pulse?
EMP would have no effect on moving anything. You can stand right next to one when it goes off. - inactive, on 07/28/2008, -0/+4That's why launching him into space is a good idea.
- sharkd, on 07/28/2008, -0/+4Quiet, Wernstrum!
- Pitstopper, on 07/28/2008, -0/+4So we can conclude that, Nuclear technology should never be used for destruction.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 163 discussions
Browsing Digg on your phone just got easier with our enhancements to the 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 