/sci/ - Science & Math

>>8372294
The shuttle was a job project from the start. At least it got the russians to abandon their moon program.

>>8069500
>If we were going to use nuclear bombs to redirect an asteroid, we probably wouldn't build special new ones, just throw together a launch with whatever we had, quickly jerry-rigging strategic nukes on satellite busses for the maneuvering capability.

This is one of the reasons the dismantling of the B-53 nukes has been "delayed" for so long. NNSA is trying to keep them for planetary defense purposes.

To ensure asteroid redirection, you would need to change its course as far away from earth as you can, which is pretty impossible with delta V budgets available from current launch vehicles. Some of the asteroid fragments might still hit earth if redirection was done closer. You'd also need much more energy (bigger nukes) to do that closer to earth.


>>8069473


> designing a nuke that can accidentally go off

No accidental nuclear detonation of nuclear weapon has ever occurred. If one pulse unit accidentally went off, it wouldn't explode the others. The largest issue then would be radiological contamination downwind and close to the launchpad, depending on the amount of plutonium released.