Alasdair ) wrote:



: "AA Institute" wrote in message
: om...
: Before anybody gives me that look...this question is totally in the
: context of a "what if" kind of hypothetical scenario.
:
: Suppose an asteroid somehow, through some super, far future
: engineering achievement has been captured into orbit around the Earth.
: Now suppose we want to carve it out by detonating a series of missiles
: that incrementally hollow their way into the body of such an asteroid.
: The material excavated out of the body would create a thin ring system
: around the Earth, as I try to illustrate he-
:
: http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagen...arth-ring.html
:
: My main concern with such a project is one of SAFETY. I'd like to know
: what a *safe* perigee (minimum) altitude would be necessary to prevent
: orbital decay of ring material. I don't want any material from my
: hypothetical ring system coming down toward the Earth under any
: circumstances. Would the ring material be contained in a narrow plane
: of fixed orbital incline, or would it scatter over time? What about
: interactivity with particles trapped in the Van Allen radiation belts?
: Is there any learnings from the Voyager studies (and now Cassini
: studies) of Saturnian rings that could be used to predict the long
: term stability of such a *hypothetical* ring system around the Earth
: in the future?
:
: Abdul Ahad

: I think the moon would prevent the ring from forming properly

Saturn has several moons and its rings don't seem to mind. I don't doubt
that the moon would have an effect but prevent the forming? No, I don't
believe that.

Eric

: Alasdair
: --

: erect featherless biped
: www.digitalmystic.co.uk