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Could paintball one day save the planet ?


Saru

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A graduate student from Massachusetts has developed a method to deflect an asteroid using paintballs.

Saving the human race from the threat of an intergalactic asteroid could fall to that staple of office bonding trips and laddish weekends – paintballing.

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FlyingAngel,don't worry,DFS are having a January sale just after the christmas one,nothing will stop that from happening so we're all safe

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Paintballing an asteroid 20 years ahead of time in order to have an effect?

That's about the dumbest idea I've heard of.

Edit: I'm more for multiple kinetic energy weapons, multiple nuclear missles and such.

Edited by pallidin
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Paintballing an asteroid 20 years ahead of time in order to have an effect?

That's about the dumbest idea I've heard of.

Edit: I'm more for multiple kinetic energy weapons, multiple nuclear missles and such.

Yea, I was thinking Rail Gun, while actually leaning towards BFG9000.

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That's about the dumbest idea I've heard of.

Nope, here is a REALLY dumb idea:

I'm more for multiple kinetic energy weapons, multiple nuclear missles and such.

Your idea would almost certainly doom the Earth. It seems highly likely that many asteroids are loose conglomerations of material, bound together by gravity Attacking them in the way you suggest would simply result in the asteroid breaking apart but continuing on the same orbital path. Instead of one impact there would be many, spread around the globe.

The paint ball idea, on the other hand, would gradually alter the orbit of the asteroid ensuring that there is no impact at all.

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Nope, here is a REALLY dumb idea:

Your idea would almost certainly doom the Earth. It seems highly likely that many asteroids are loose conglomerations of material, bound together by gravity Attacking them in the way you suggest would simply result in the asteroid breaking apart but continuing on the same orbital path. Instead of one impact there would be many, spread around the globe.

The paint ball idea, on the other hand, would gradually alter the orbit of the asteroid ensuring that there is no impact at all.

but wat if the rail gun eradicates all the atoms on the asteroid so that it wont fall into smaller chunks
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Nope, here is a REALLY dumb idea:

Your idea would almost certainly doom the Earth. It seems highly likely that many asteroids are loose conglomerations of material, bound together by gravity Attacking them in the way you suggest would simply result in the asteroid breaking apart but continuing on the same orbital path. Instead of one impact there would be many, spread around the globe.

The paint ball idea, on the other hand, would gradually alter the orbit of the asteroid ensuring that there is no impact at all.

Isn't the paint ball idea a kind of two-edged sword?

Say we put paint on the asteroid, and for some unknown reason it tilts, then isn't it possible that the paint ball effect pushes the asteroid closer to the earth's path instead of further away?

Also, I was wondering why one huge impact would be preferable over multiple smaller impacts?

I see the problem that the smaller fragments would be spread over a much larger area, and therefore affecting more population.

However, I would also figure that a nuke would:

  1. Reduce at least a small part of the total kinetic energy
  2. Incinerate at least a small part of the mass of the asteroid
  3. Disperse at least a small part of the fragments just enough so that they miss earth
  4. Create smaller fragments so that at least a small part of them are tiny enough to burn up in the atmosphere

Since it is stated everywhere I read that using nukes is not really a valid option, I'm guessing that the cumulated impact of the above is not enough to offset the larger spread of the fragments, but I would love having someone explain that to me.

Edited by Khaleid
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No one has addressed the BIG question...what color paint will be used :alien: I'm thinkin grey.....

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No one has addressed the BIG question...what color paint will be used :alien: I'm thinkin grey.....

Anything but pink, if the plan fails, I don't want to be killed by a giant pink asteroid, that just kind of seems wrong on many levels...

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From the article:

"...Another NASA alternative is the "kinetic interceptor" which could deflect an asteroid by crashing into it.

According to Space.com, a one mile-per-hour impact could divert an asteroid by 170,000miles if hit 20 years before the predicted collision..."

I like that idea much better than paintballing.

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