If a man made satellite were to hit the side of a roughly spherical 7 mile in diameter comet at great speed, would this be sufficient in knocking the said comet off course?
2006-10-26 09:54:40 · 14 answers · asked by David G 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Almost all scientists think that comets are giant balls of ice with some rocks (maybe). So, you'd probably just break it up into several pieces if you tried to push it.
2006-10-26 10:10:11 · answer #1 · answered by Otis F 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You know that NASA has already deliberately crashed a satellite into a comet, right? It was the Deep Impact mission. It did not alter the path of the comet enough to notice, but presumably it did alter it by some microscopic amount. See the source for more details.
2006-10-26 10:11:21 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nice answer CAMPBEL!
Now let me add, there are two ways of doing this. Either we have a small object moving very fast, or a big object moving slow. The trick is how much momentum (energy) it carries. Let me put it this way. A semi truck traveling at 5 mph may cause the same damage that a bowling ball at 100mph.
Now build your spacecraft. To knock out a 7 mi dia comet (need to know the mass of the comet) you can calculate for a given size (mass) of spacecraft how fast it need to hit the comet to push it out of trajectory.
Simple math.
2006-10-26 14:45:12 · answer #3 · answered by Manny L 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would depend upon the mass and speed of the comet compared to that of the satellite. If you consider the moon a satellite... yes it could probably seriously effect the trajectory of a comet.
2006-10-26 10:05:54 · answer #4 · answered by Darren 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would knock the comet off course but the question is how much. There would be a change in course but do to the much larger mass of the comet the change would be very very small.
2006-10-26 09:58:50 · answer #5 · answered by bourne3141592654 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, not in the least. The comet would have such mass and momentum that it would just continue merrily along its way. You might chip off a piece or two, but even those would continue in the same path as the rest of the comet.
2006-10-26 10:01:44 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is our interdiction plan for altering the course of the planet killers. Given enough advance warning (10 years or more) a satellite will need to use its small gravitational field or other thruster-type of engineering to make that small change in trajectory. Nukes have been ruled out, since they'd make our situation worse.
2006-10-26 21:02:35 · answer #7 · answered by Its not me Its u 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mercury - Messenger Venus - Venus Express Moon - Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, GRAIL Mars - Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Vesta - Dawn (later this year will head to Ceres) Jupiter - Juno (on the way - 2016) Saturn - Cassini Pluto - New Horizons (on the way - 2015) No moons are being orbited other than our own Moon. Although Cassini has made several flybys of many of Saturn's moons and Juno will do the same with Jupiter's moons. All of the missions have the obvious goal of scientifically studying what they are orbiting including giving us many fascinating pictures and video.
2016-05-21 22:58:55 · answer #8 · answered by Betsy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The 'satellite' in question would have to be unbelievably massive itself to have any noticeable effect on a body the mass of a typical comet. Figure the spacecraft would have to be about as massive as Mt. Shasta.
2006-10-26 10:04:21 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ever seen the movie Armagedon? One of the best lines was, "that would be like shooting a BB gun at a freight train." Billy Bob Thornton. It was in respect to how to alter the path of a comet.
2006-10-26 10:03:20 · answer #10 · answered by Chris T 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋