Asteroid Forced To Orbit Moon & Miss Earth

[MolaKule]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
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The heat from the explosion would heat up the internal gasses, turn the ices into steam, and cause an internal pressure rise within the asteroid fracturing it.


I wouldn't bet the future of mankind on that theory working out. You'd have to drill a very deep hole then put the nuke in.



You are also forgetting another blast effect called, "Radiation Pressure."

 

[lubricatosaurus]

About the MIRV shotgun blast effect, you'd need to time all detonations the same. Multiple warheads going off in front of an advancing asteroid would provide the needed redundancy.

Another shotgun-blast directed explosion would follow directly from the Project Orion design of 1958:

 

[lubricatosaurus]

Main point is to provide lots of redundancy for success, and certainly staged behind one novel attempt would be another different attempt to make sure the job is done.

Therefore, the first attempt could be a landing on the asteroid with detonation or redirection, then a second wave of attack could come from other following proximity nukes.

 

[lubricatosaurus]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
No there's just not enough mass to do any damage.

Remember kinetic energy (destruction) isn't just mass, its both mass and speed, so small masses traveling very fast make great bullets, whether plasma or solid from a nearby nuclear explosion.