Posted on 02/14/2016 12:35:01 PM PST by BenLurkin
Russian scientists are planning to tweak their intercontinental ballistic missiles, ICBMs, to target meteorites.
Russian news agency TASS reports the missiles would have the power to destroy meteorites measuring from 20m and up to 50m in size.
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Senior rocket researcher Sabit Saitgaraye, from the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau, said they plan to test their missiles on the asteroid 99942 Apophis, which he believes will pass 'dangerously close' to Earth in 2036.
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As a result, modifying solid-fueled ICBMs will require millions of pounds and permission from the authorities, and as such it is unclear whether the project will ever get the green light.
It is not the first time Mr Saitgarayev has put forward plans to destroy meteorites. In 2013 he said a Soviet-era ballistic missile system dubbed 'Satan' should be put back into use defending the earth from asteroids.
He pointed out that the missiles could be kept poised and ready to launch for up to a decade.
It means a missile could be launched against an approaching asteroid with a mere 20 minutes warning, in contrast to modern missile systems, which require several days of preparation ahead of a launch.
TASS reports the Makeyev Design Bureau specializing in long-range rockets was established on December 16, 1947.
The company was engaged in developing the serial production of rockets designed by the OKB-1 design bureau led by famous Soviet rocket designer Sergei Korolyov.
In the mid-1950s, the Makeyev design bureau switched to developing ballistic missiles for submarines.
Now the company is engaged in scientific research and developments to create rocket and space systems, as well as space vehicles and their units and parts.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
we have Bruce Willis for that :)
Wouldn’t it be easier to shoot them while they are still meteors?
What good does it do to shoot them once they have landed?
Good catch.
suuure, Russia.
Or high orbit satellites.
They are easier to hit on the ground.
Preferably while they’re meteoroids.
Riiiiigghtt....in other news, ISIS is given 1.6 billon dollars to combat global warming.
Oh, good. So rather than have one block-sized chunk of rock rain down, we’ll have eight 1/8th block chunks of possibly radioactive rock rain down.
First of all, meteors are tiny, up to only a yard in length. They probably meant asteroids. Second, they are only called meteors when they're passing through the atmosphere ionizing it and creating light. While they're still out in space they're called meteoroids (like asteroid). In any case, the Russians are, once again, likely full of it, that that is the reason they want to 'tweak' the missiles.
Maybe they're going to toss them up in the air, like at a shooting range.
silly Russians, everyone know that would like having a firecracker on you open palm.
you have to drill.
Not only that, they propose testing the system on a rock which isn’t even going to hit us.
“A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body travelling through space. Meteoroids are significantly smaller than asteroids, and range in size from small grains to 1 meter-wide objects. Objects smaller than this are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust.[1][2][3][4] Most are fragments from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as the Moon or Mars.[5][6][7][8]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor
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Asteroids vary greatly in size, from almost 1000 km for the largest down to rocks just tens of metres across.[note 3] The three largest are very much like miniature planets: they are roughly spherical, have at least partly differentiated interiors,[33] and are thought to be surviving protoplanets. The vast majority, however, are much smaller and are irregularly shaped; they are thought to be either surviving planetesimals or fragments of larger bodies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid#Size_distribution
There is one meteorite in Washington, DC; another in New York City, etc.
Oh, horse crap! A willfully ignorant writer!
I thought the same thing.
Apparently Mutually Assured Destruction was predicated on the offensive party sending pre-launch notices through the mail.
I don't know about easier. I think it's a lot easier to shoot a meteorite than a meteor, but better to shoot it while it's still a meteor. Or not. Maybe figure out where it's going to land before shooting it at all, he, he.
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