[TML] Solution to the near-c rock question

[Jerry W Barrington]

On 2/1/08 11:25 AM, "Brad Murray" <bjmurray.halfjack at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Jan 31, 2008 11:38 PM, Jerry W Barrington <jursamaj at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> On 1/31/08 7:12 AM, "shadow at shadowgard.com" <shadow at shadowgard.com> wrote:
>> Starting a month out, a 1 m/s shove gives you almost 2600 km.  Obviously,
>> longer lead-time give better results with less delta-V needed, but I don't
>> think you need years.  Depends on your tech, of course.
> 
> I think the point is that with a couple of years you can do it
> trivially -- you can send out a package with just enough fuel to get
> there, match orbit, and station keep, pack it with amusing scientific
> instruments and maybe some ballast, and use its mass to deflect the
> asteroid gravitationally.
> 
> You even get a bunch of observations for free out of the deal.

Err... gravitationally?  How big a package you sending?