[TML] Space Traffic Control (was Re: War rules)

[shadow at shadowgard.com]

On 2 Jun 2008 at 9:21, Leon Wu wrote:

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: tml-bounces at travellercentral.com 
> > [mailto:tml-bounces at travellercentral.com] On Behalf Of Knapp
> > Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 3:36 AM
> > To: The Traveller Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [TML] Space Traffic Control (was Re: War rules)
> > 
> > You will have dust too and that can go from no problem to a 
> > long night or climate change. This is a good example of a 
> > Legal vector VS one that is just stupid. Really big war ships 
> > doing really high speeds can risk the whole planet. I was 
> > also thinking about what would happen if, say two cargo ships 
> > hit. The huge type with 100,000 cargo containers each. Now 
> > you have 200,000 cargo containers raining down on the planet. 
> > Obliviously a worst case scenario. Perhaps cargo containers 
> > could have safety parachutes or something. Even on Earth they 
> > are a large problem for boaters.
> 
> I'd say that the planetary defense batteries get some target practice.

If they've got a high enough velocity you may actually be better off 
letting them hit in one piece. 

"solid" object at high velocity blasts a crater, and uses up energy 
in ground shock, airborne shockwave and blasting material out of the 
crater. Also melts & vaporizes a lot of rock.

A lot of the heat in the crater will radiate away into space as the 
crater cools.

Water strike puts more energy into creating a tsunami and the water 
rushing back into the crater (if the object was large enough or fast 
enough to make a crater) turns into steam carrying a lot of heat and 
particulates into the atmosphere.

Blowing it into pieces that burn up in the atmosphere and it all 
winds up as heat and dust in the upper atmosphere. Which may be 
hot/bright enough to ignite widespread fires on the ground just like 
the thermal flash from a nuke. Only over a *much* wider area.

This is why if you can't deflect an asteroid, you are better off 
letting it hit rather than blowing it into chunks that will also hit. 


Years back on rec.arts.sf.science we actually worked it out for a 
"small" asteroid. The impact was bad for a region a thousand or so 
miles across. On water it was bad for the coastlines and longer term 
did nastry weather/climate stuff. 

But blowing it into chunks that burned up in the atmosphere 
flashburned an entire *hemisphere* throwing up smoke that qualified 
for "nuclear winter" effects.

Counter-intuitive, but very real.

Rather like getting hit by a bullet or a shotgun blast. Only worse.

--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com