If there's still Aliens squatting on our moon, in which case I have
just the ticket for rocking their boat. Of course, we could also
utilize this same opportunity for pretty much eliminating any trace of
our Apollo impacts.
First of all, I'm usually a very eristic sort of guy that just so
happens to have a few lose cannons on my poopdeck. However, those
cannons seldom get utilized unless I'm being topic/author stalked by
way of those having no intentions of their constructively contributing
squat.
Like my most recent considerations given on behalf of terraforming our
moon and of terminating a potentially lethal asteroid (Apophis/99942
2004 MN4) at the same time hasn't exactly received the warm and fuzzy
Usenet stamp of approval. Thus saving humanity plus having greatly
improved our environment, at the same time as having given our salty
moon a touch of atmosphere, whereas this notion still isn't sufficient
cause for others that usually claim as knowing all there is to know, as
to sharing a damn thing on behalf of accomplishing this nifty task.
As early as 2021, 24e18 joules worth of head-on slamming our moon with
everything that's "Apophis" seems perfectly doable. If we miss that
opportunity, 2029 and then 2036 gives us two extra tries at nailing our
moon before that asteroid (AKA minor planet) nails us.
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.s...7a46fd744d5b9c
Due to the expected cratering(deep surface deformation), as well as for
the displaced primary and secondary tonnage of shards that'll be going
every which way but lose (I'm assuming a few tonnes that'll be leaving
lunar orbit), plus given the fairly massive amount of thermal energy
that's essentially vaporising a great deal of most everything
(including the asteroid) into becoming atmospheric elements, is why
much of the asteroid's kinetic impact energy shouldn't contribute to
lunar Dv unless it's density is sufficiently greater than that of the
moon.
Therefore, I'm thinking the impact reaction energy is perhaps seldom
going to exceed 10% of the full kinetic potential, even if having been
a direct hit. A mostly nickel-iron asteroid that's worth 7.8t/m3 could
obviously manage quite nicely at delivering a greater percentage of
it's KE into becoming lunar Dv, whereas Apophis/99942 is supposedly a
third of that density as based upon the current swag of available
infomercial-science, and as such there shouldn't be hardly any physical
remains of that wussy substance once having merged with the 3.1+g/cm3
of lunar basalt.
The supposed ballpark density of Apophis/99942 is merely 2.681t/m3
The density of a mostly nickel-iron meteor or asteroid is 7.856t/m3
Pure nickel alloy can reach 8.9t/m3
Pure cobalt alloy can reach 8.8t/m3
Magnetic shield alloy density is 8.25~8.75t/m3
Common nickel-iron alloys can easily exceed 8.1t/m3
Of pure iron and nickel crystals become 7.775 and 8.953t/m3
Obviously there are a few concentrations of heavier elements out there.
This is my current swag as to Dv of impactor reaction potential, as
based upon the angle of the impending asteroid as the impactor which
targets our moon.
0.0° = 10% Dv (dead on center impact, +/-1°)
22.5° = 5% Dv
45° = 2.5% Dv
67.5° = .625% Dv
90° = .156% Dv (glancing blow that's mostly going into rotational
torque)
My suggested maximum impact reaction Dv = Mb/Ma * V2 * % /2
Dv = lunar velocity shift or reaction in m/sec (in this case = increase
in velocity)
Ma = primary mass of 7.35e22 kg
Mb = secondary mass of 4.6e10 kg
V2 = Velocity squared, (12.5e3)2 = 156.25e6
% = 10% if taken at 0.0° (direct hit within +/- 1°)
The reactive Dv could however represent a reduction in lunar velocity
if given a head-on or even that of an external (backside) impact, which
I believe technically can be arranged. With some practice, I believe
we could put this sucker into whichever front, back or side-pocket we'd
care to arrange, or we could also manage to minimize the impact energy
by way of targeting a lunar rear-ender that should extract nearly a
km/s from the velocity tally, and much slower yet if you folks would
not mind our using the gravity and upper atmospheric drag of Earth as a
method of moderating the velocity of that sucker.
The hard-science obtained from this could be rather impressive, in that
we'd establish a great deal of knowledge and expertise as to what our
moon is actually made of, as well as demonstrating our capability of
defending mother Earth from other NEOs. Just learning the hard facts
about orbital mechanics, such as how well associated and/or attached
that moon is to our existance.
For instance, I'd like to learn of exactly how much LSE-CM/ISS tonnage
of pulling upon the moon towards Earth would offset the supposed 34
mm/yr of recession. One method is to impact the moon with a
substantial asteroid and then take notice of what the impactor
accomplished in causing Dv.
-
Brad Guth