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

[Leon Wu]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tml-bounces at travellercentral.com 
> [mailto:tml-bounces at travellercentral.com] On Behalf Of 
> shadow at shadowgard.com
> Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 3:07 AM
> To: The Traveller Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [TML] Space Traffic Control (was Re: War rules)
> 
> > 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. 

Undoubtably, yes. But in this case I was responding to the question
about hundreds of thousands of cargo containers. Small enough to be
destroyed or reduced enough to burn up in re-entry.

For asteroids, you'd need detect it early to have a hope of getting it
to miss.