Using Gravity To Tow Asteroids

cryptocom writes "Space.com is reporting that two scientists at NASA are proposing using a 20-ton spacecraft to pull asteroids off a possible collision course with Earth, using the spacecraft's own gravity as an attractor. This idea would not only be cheaper, but have a much higher chance of success, due to not having to actually land on the asteroid's surface."

How exciting, sort of

[phpm0nkey]

"The kind of spacecraft we've talked about could move an asteroid 650 feet (200 meters) across provided we have decades of advanced warning,"

Neat... although, if this works, it will totally kill the Hollywood "asteroid catastrophe" genre. The concept of sitting a giant hunk of metal next to an asteroid for 20 years to gradually shift its path doesn't exactly make for fast-paced, high-tension action movie fare.

They only have one small problem to solve

[Anonymous Coward]

Dealing with the impact of a 20-ton spacecraft on earth.

Re:The mother of all asteroid deflection devices

[lightyear4]

I don't think you should place a price upon the value of saving civilization.

Re:The mother of all asteroid deflection devices

[Gulthek]

Maybe to stop a huge asteroid from impacting on the Earth's surface the cost would be quite reasonable.

I.e. I don't think that world leaders would look at the figures and go "Hrmmmmm...when you say extinct...how extinct?"

Re:The mother of all asteroid deflection devices

[Anonymous Coward]

But the movie would be so boring... Imagine no last-minute, daring attempts to set off some nuclear warheads at the core of the asteroid, just in time for it to... Just sitting around, waiting for "gravity" to run its course...

Fred: Can I just land on it once?
Captain: No
Fred: But, I just wanna LOOK!
Caption, No, you're not allowed 'cause you'll nuke the whole damn thing, like in that stupid movie. ...
3 weeks later
Fred: How about now?
Captain: Oh, fine, nuke the fucker. It's more fun than this stupid idea.

Re:The mother of all asteroid deflection devices

[richdun]

I don't think you should place a price upon the value of saving civilization.

You've obviously never taken a modern finance course - everything has a price!

20-ton spacecraft collisions

[Spectre]

Great, the asteroids miss the earth, but damage from falling 20-ton spacecraft becomes an issue.

i've been away for a few days....

[shrewd]

this isn't a follow-up story to "asteroid on collision coarse with earth" IS IT!?!?

Not good enough

[TreeHugger04]

"...provided we have decades of advanced warning," Lu said. "That's not out of line with what you'd expect - we can predict the orbit of an asteroid decades in advance."

This just in:

Response from FEMA: "Not good enough. We need more time."

I tried this...

[novus ordo]

...with women, but I've had mixed success(wrong body part got gravitationally attracted to my face).

Re:Interesting Concept

[Quaoar]

Having it slam into the Earth would be one way.

From Jack Handy...

[Astin]

The big, huge meteor headed toward Earth. Could nothing stop it? Maybe Bob could. He was suddenly on top of the meteor--through some kind of a space warp or something. "Go, Bob, go " yelled one of the generals. "Give me that" said the big-guy general as he took the microphone away. "Listen, Bob," he said. "you've got to steer that meteor away from Earth." "Yes, but how?" thought Bob. Then he got an idea. Right next to him there was a steering wheel sticking out of the the meteor.

Re:How exciting, sort of

[Toxicgonzo]

Yes, it can. It would be perfect for Speed:3. Just imagine a tense scene where Keanu Reeves, head of NASA, yells "If that spaececraft doesn't move the asteroid more than .000000000000000005 miles per hour we're all dead!"

Save Money

[jatemack]

Just send Kristie Alley up there. That should work.

Humans perhaps....

[isotope23]

Crew? Not a chance. There is absolutely no reason to send crew on a mission like this.

Question, I assume there will only be one of these made at the time, so what happens if it BREAKS?
1.No humans = no fixing it,
2.No fixing it = End of civilization
3. E.O.C. = ????
4. Profit!!!

This should make......

[8127972]

....Bruce Willis happy.

Re:The mother of all asteroid deflection devices

[Mahou]

i was thinking just scoop it up and put it in one of those new glad trash bags

Re:I tried this...

[roman_mir]

sheesh. It's simple physics, really. Action-Reaction. You have massively overestimated the size/mass of your 'attractor' and didn't calculate the vector of the reaction properly.

Re:The mother of all asteroid deflection devices

[GryMor]

'Hoovering' isn't going to work, suction is just the difference between a high presure area and a low presure area. In order to 'hoover' in this environment you would need to have a zone inside the space craft with a presure lower than the presure outside the spacecraft. The presure outside the spacecraft is aproximately 0, so, good luck with creating an area of negative pressure (which would require a negative number of atoms, a negative absolute temperature or a negative volume...)

Re:The mother of all asteroid deflection devices

[kzarling]

Ah... like a giant space-Katamari!

Re:The mother of all asteroid deflection devices

[AnonymousKev]

> I.e. I don't think that world leaders would look at the figures and go "Hrmmmmm...when you say extinct...how extinct?"

You've obviously never been in a scheduling meeting with management.

Re:The mother of all asteroid deflection devices

[modecx]

Does the cost of operating your car double when you add a passenger?

That depends, is the passenger African or European?

Re:that's what i was thinking

[Wog]

Nuke the moon!

Much better idea

[irablum]

You remember all those left over copies of Windows ME?

Ira

Re:that's what i was thinking

[CardiganKiller]

Why just a chunk of the moon? Blowing up the moon would be kind of like using chaff when being pursued by a heat seeking missile... many more fragments. If we have 20 years, let's just dedicate that time to stuffing the moon's core so full of WMDs that when the time comes, we'll get quite a show.

My other solution is to dig a hole through the Earth to allow the asteroid to pass through its natural trajectory. If we were clever enough, we could dig a hole in such a way that we could redirect the asteroid right into the moon.

Alright, alright... I'm really just sick of these damn dogs going nuts every month.

Why not move the earth?

[HermanAB]

Never mind moving the objects, just move the earth out of the way. Just mount an engine on the north and south poles. No need for any space travel. This can be done at ground level. A pair of coal fired steam jets should do it.

Re:Humans perhaps....

[Meetch]

Time for reasonable compromise...

Put Bruce Willis on the probe. The minor detail of whether or not to include an air supply can be left to the engineers.

News for Nerds?

[darklordyoda]

An asteroid called Apophis has a chance of hitting Earth, and I don't see one Stargate SG-1, or by extension, MacGuyver joke.

I'm disappointed in you, Slashdot nerds. For shame!

NASA patent...

[griffjon]

Next: Nasa patents "A Method and Process for Using Gravity To Tow Asteroids"

God loses his appeal based on prior art, ends civilization in retaliation.

Yeah but...

[natedog44]

... what happens if Rosie O'Donnell doesn't want to go? =P