From: Mark Grant (mark@unicorn.com)
Date: Sun Jan 19 1997 - 09:01:02 MST
On Thu, 16 Jan 1997, Michael Lorrey wrote:
> Even a small one would suffice. The important thing is to put the right
> amount in at the right point in time.
Well no, if it's orbiting the Earth then you require a certain amount of
energy to decelerate it until it hits the Earth's atmosphere. That's a lot
of energy, and a small nuke just won't provide it.
> You could even have small mass
> drivers using solar power or a garbage can sized fission pile for energy
> propell asteroids from the main belt toward earth, and use less than .1%
> of its mass in the process.
AFAIR the L5 folx reckoned it was more like 90% of the mass, and the
mass-drivers were roughly the same size as those used on the moon. You're
changing your scenario again; if you'd originally said that an asteroid
belt society (if such a thing is possible) could defend itself against the
Earth this way then I would probably have agreed. They'd be hard to find,
hard to hit, and able to cause a lot of damage to Earth.
In the long-run, planets really are a bad place to be.
Mark
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