Can mankind stop, deflect or destroy an asteroid, half mile wide if receiving adequate warning?
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Can mankind stop, deflect or destroy an asteroid, half mile wide if receiving adequate warning?

[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 17-04-14] [Hit: ]
750 km in diameter and moves at approx. 30 km per second in its orbit, it travels a distance of one planetary diameter in about 425 seconds, or slightly over seven minutes. Delaying, or advancing the impactors arrival by times of this magnitude can,......
Can mankind stop, deflect or destroy an asteroid, half mile wide if receiving adequate warning?

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answers:
waqar say: Yes mankind can destroy it by sending a nuclear missile to it to shatter it into pieces up there.
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Brigalow Bloke say: Not now. If a few governments got their fingers out it might be possible to do one of these, but that's a big "if".
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Gray Bold say: Yes. Strategies fall into two basic sets: destruction and delay. Fragmentation concentrates on rendering the impactor harmless by fragmenting it and scattering the fragments so that they miss the Earth or burn up in the atmosphere. Delay exploits the fact that both the Earth and the impactor are in orbit. An impact occurs when both reach the same point in space at the same time, or more correctly when some point on Earth's surface intersects the impactor's orbit when the impactor arrives. Since the Earth is approximately 12,750 km in diameter and moves at approx. 30 km per second in its orbit, it travels a distance of one planetary diameter in about 425 seconds, or slightly over seven minutes. Delaying, or advancing the impactor's arrival by times of this magnitude can, depending on the exact geometry of the impact, cause it to miss the Earth. The direct methods, such as nuclear explosives, or kinetic impactors, rapidly intercept the bolide's path. Direct methods are preferred because they are generally less costly in time and money. Their effects may be immediate, thus saving precious time. These methods would work for short-notice, and long-notice threats, and are most effective against solid objects that can be directly pushed.
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Starrysky say: Adequate? 4 or 40 or 400 years? Varies.
4, very doubtful arrangements could be made in time--much bickering would limit it to a desperate last minute effort.
40, a concerted effort by many countries, a good chance.
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