Meteorite Defence | World Defense

Meteorite Defence

drc65

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Are you aware of any missiles that could shoot down a meteorite? I recall seeing a design for a missile with these capabilities in a magazine. Wouldn't it be great if the USA & Russia could co-operate on building such a missile to save humanity from meteorites?
 

Uncle Doc J

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You're thinking of some fictional reality, where the superhero raises his might fist as he flies into the meteorite & it vaporizes into nothing.

In reality, the missile would break the meteorite into a bunch of separate, equally-dangerous meteorites---like being shot with a scattershot rifle in place of a cannonball.
 

drc65

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You're thinking of some fictional reality, where the superhero raises his might fist as he flies into the meteorite & it vaporizes into nothing.

In reality, the missile would break the meteorite into a bunch of separate, equally-dangerous meteorites---like being shot with a scattershot rifle in place of a cannonball.
I think if a large meteorite was broken into smaller pieces it would be less dangerous. With a larger surface area exposed the smaller pieces of meteorite would be broken down quicker and land with less force. Am I wrong?
 

westmixxin

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If we don’t set up some sort of defense the world is in big trouble. These space rocks can cause 10 times more damage then ah nuclear weapon ever could.
 

UAE

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And who is going to operate meteorites? Aliens! Yeah they are going to invade earth.
 

Kjordo711

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This is a tough issue. I think for the world to focus on issues outside of it, such as space, and meteorites, then the focus is drawn away from the problems inside it, such as ISIS. While this could be very beneficial, I don't think any country has any real form of weaponry to take down a meteorite, mainly because its something that we have never had to deal with before. It could certainly happen, and with the technology its the type of thing that we could predict to happen some time before it truly does, but if that prediction were to be released it would mean that we would have to come together quickly in order to find a solution that will really help the problem, and I think it is indeed a very difficult problem.
 

Radix24

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There are different kinds of meteorites. A large solid mass is just one kind. Shooting down meteorites is a bad thing. Sure, it does break it into smaller pieces, but the mass will be spread into a larger area. Instead, we can launch asteroid redirect missions where we embed a projectile into an asteroid and nudge it enough to miss earth. This requires time to do though.
 

Uncle Doc J

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I think if a large meteorite was broken into smaller pieces it would be less dangerous. With a larger surface area exposed the smaller pieces of meteorite would be broken down quicker and land with less force. Am I wrong?
I'm no expert, but I would guess that the choice would be between 'huge destruction in one place' or 'medium destruction in many places.' If you're talking about hitting the meteorite while it's outside our atmosphere, you're right. But I think it would be better to totally redirect the metorite's course in that case, so that it doesn't hit Earth at all!

And who is going to operate meteorites? Aliens! Yeah they are going to invade earth.
Probably Nazi zombies ^(0 '_' 0)^
 

drc65

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I'm no expert, but I would guess that the choice would be between 'huge destruction in one place' or 'medium destruction in many places.' If you're talking about hitting the meteorite while it's outside our atmosphere, you're right. But I think it would be better to totally redirect the metorite's course in that case, so that it doesn't hit Earth at all!


Probably Nazi zombies ^(0 '_' 0)^
Meteorites usually are burnt down completely before they hit the earth's surface. This process would be accelerated if the meteorite was hit with a missile. If a meteorite was particularly large, with a low surface area to volume ratio, it would not be eroded by the air before hitting land. A missile defence system is required for this type of meteorite.
 
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As drc65 said, most meteorites are broken up in the atmosphere due to air resistance raising the temperature. If you break a big meteorite into smaller pieces then the pieces will combust before hitting the ground whereas the big meteorite would be large enough to make an impact. Of course the pieces need to be small enough, so multiple missiles might be necessary to break the already broken chunks into even smaller ones.

The targeting systems are definitely there already, as are missiles with the required range. So I guess it's just a matter of putting one and one together.
 

xTinx

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Had I not known better, I would have dismissed what you said as another conspiracy theory. However, I know for a fact that in view of the 2013 meteorite crash which left hundreds of people injured and damaged several infrastructures, Russia's Aerospace Defense Forces are currently developing weapons that will protect citizens from future incidents involving heavenly bodies. As to whether or not such weapons include missiles, the said institution hasn't disclosed any information.
 
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They are obviously missiles since, apart from lasers, it's the only thing that makes sense. You need propulsion and guidance if you are going to hit an incoming asteroid. Except with lasers because they don't care about gravity and travel at the speed of light, but I highly doubt that anyone has lasers even close to this.

Several years ago the US air force (or was it navy?) shot down an orbiting satellite using a missle launched from a F-15. And that was just a kinetic impactor (so no explosive warhead) so the accuracy is such systems is definitely there.
 

Uncle Doc J

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the top of every page here said:
Please be advised that our board is for defense, military and world affairs news and discussions. Members are only allowed to discuss topics on global security, war on terror, army, land forces, air force, military aviation, navy, naval forces as well as nuclear and missile forces. Compare and discuss about weapons systems such as fighter aircraft, UAVs, bomber aircraft, transport aircraft, army vehicles, armored vehicles, tanks, artillery, war strategy, navy ships, warships, aircraft carriers, submarines, boats as well as missile and nuclear weapons technology. Off topic discussions are not ALLOWED. Members found doing so will be banned.

So--in order to keep this discussion "on topic"--I'll ask, "How do we know that this isn't a conspiracy to get more weapon-supplies to areas that--while they might be in good strategic positions for the launch of world-saving meteorite-repellants--are more-likely the homes of people who want to hold the world hostage?"
 

goldenmaine

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I have not heard of anything like this but I think any missile that can shoot down aerial targets and air vehicles will be effective against meteorites, as long as their size is not that massive. It would be great to build specific missiles for these but I don't think it is a priority because falling rocks are a rare thing. The government has other important priorities and problems to attend to, but I don't see the harm in creating missiles specific for these situations.
 
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I have not heard of anything like this but I think any missile that can shoot down aerial targets and air vehicles will be effective against meteorites, as long as their size is not that massive. It would be great to build specific missiles for these but I don't think it is a priority because falling rocks are a rare thing. The government has other important priorities and problems to attend to, but I don't see the harm in creating missiles specific for these situations.

I'm no expert but the way I see it.
Most anti-air missiles have a warhead between 10 and 100kg and they are designed to destoy aircraft or incoming missiles. Both obviously are not exactly the toughest of targets. Meteorites that will not be burned up in the atmosphere are going to be pretty large chunks of rock. So without having any deeper knowledge of the subject I would say that a regular anti-air missile won't do much, especially since the explosion would be on the surface (or in a lot of cases in the proximity of the surface) of the target.
 
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