Thought for the month
"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen"
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. 1870 – 1924
Friday, 8 March 2013
Paint your asteroid
Last month was quite worrying with a meteor striking the earth and an
asteroid passing close by. Not everyday events but potentially very
life changing. One new idea from Texas A&M University to deflect
earth bound asteroids involves using paint. It is all due to the Yarkovsky effect, a force,
on a body in space caused by the anisotropic emission of thermal photons that
carry momentum. Apparently spraying dry paint powder onto a spinning asteroid
could generate unequal heating effects with the photons imparting sufficient
momentum to cause the asteroid to change course. Bruce Willis is on call if
Plan B is required.
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