Defense weapon 'PI' concept that blows away asteroids that threaten the earth
It turns out that a group of researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) are devising a new planetary defense method called 'PI (Pulverize It)'. 'PI' appears in a treatise published in the academic journal '
Planetary Defense Is Good--but Is Planetary Offense Better? --Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/planetary-defense-is-good-but-is-planetary-offense-better/
PI-Terminal Planetary Defense
https://www.deepspace.ucsb.edu/projects/pi-terminal-planetary-defense
'PI' is the idea of launching a 'penetrator rod' into the path of a large asteroid that could threaten the Earth, crushing the asteroid and crushing it into hundreds of small pieces.
The rod is about 1.8m to 3m long and contains explosives. 'Long before the asteroid reaches the atmosphere, it can be shattered into relatively harmless debris,' the researchers say.
Even though it has become finer, the debris does not disappear, so it will fall on the earth. About this, it is said that it is very small compared to the impact of the meteorite that fell in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia in February 2013, and the power of 30 atomic bombs used in Hiroshima.
Movie summary that shot the ridiculous moment of the meteorite that crashed into Russia --GIGAZINE
USCB physicists Philip Rubin and Alexander Cohen said the difference between 'one big asteroid' and 'hundreds of small asteroids' was 'dropping a 500kg grand piano overhead from a height of 1km.' It's like dropping a 500kg Styrofoam ball overhead from a height of 1km. '
NASA is tracking the movement of more than 8,000 asteroids with a diameter of 140 m or more near the earth, but astronomers did not predict the arrival of meteorites, citing one of the reasons for the damage caused by the Chelyabinsk meteorite. It is said that it will be done.
Researchers say that one of the benefits of 'PI' is that, in theory, an asteroid can launch a rod-laden rocket within minutes of reaching the atmosphere.
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in Science, Posted by logc_nt