A group of researchers wants to build DE-STAR - a system based on existing technologies that will handle near-Earth objects
The double combination, of unrelated events of Approaching asteroid 2012 DA14 and the aerial explosion of Meteor in Russia causing many to ask how future threats to Earth from space can be dealt with.
A group of researchers wants to target the body that threatens a vaporization system with a laser and blow it up. The system, known as DE-STAR (Directed Energy Solar Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation) is designed to convert the sun's energy into focused laser beams that will vaporize any rock that threatens to hit the Earth.
Although the idea sounds like it was taken from the set of a science fiction movie, the researchers - led by scientists from two universities in California - claim that the system can be built based on solid principles.
"This is not a fictional idea of the kind that appears in 'Star Trek'." says Prof. Gary Hughes, a researcher at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo. "All the components needed for the system more or less exist today. Maybe not exactly on the scale we need, and indeed upgrading these components will be a challenge, but the basic components are all here and need to be connected to a larger system to be effective. Once the system is established, it will be able to do many things."
The researchers say that even a medium-sized system could provide good results. DE-STAR has been designed in several different sizes. "A system with a diameter of 100 meters, twice the size of the International Space Station, could push a comet or an asteroid out of their orbits," says Hughes.
A 10-kilometer-diameter version could even launch 1.4 megatons of energy at an asteroid and provide enough power for a year to completely disintegrate a 500-meter-diameter space rock. This is an asteroid 10 times larger than the asteroid 2012 DA14 that approached us on February 15, 2013 (yesterday, as of this writing) at a distance of 27 thousand kilometers.
"Our proposal takes into account a combination of a technological baseline - where we are today - and where we are sure we will reach in the future without asking for any miracle" says Philip Lubin, from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Besides vaporizing asteroids, DE-STAR can give a boost to spacecraft that will fly into deep space. The DE-STAR 6 version (the size of which has not been disclosed) will be able to push a 10-ton spacecraft almost to the speed of light, thus making interstellar flights a reality without waiting for science fiction technologies such as space jumps." Lubin says.
The press release did not provide the budget needed for any of the DE-STAR versions, nor how the system would be installed or how soon it would be possible to start using it to repel asteroids. However, the researchers say that proposals of this type should be seriously considered in order to repel space rocks approaching us. "We must create a legitimate discourse on a logical basis" Lubin said.
"We must take preventive measures and not just react to threats from space. Duck range is not a good option. We can really do something and therefore must act. Let's start the track. Let's start small and work up to upgrade. You don't need to rob a bank to get started."
11 תגובות
We need such a mechanism that eliminates mosquitoes
How can you hit such a small target moving at such a high speed from such a great distance?
Even if it is possible to hurt it is not enough.
The laser should accompany the asteroid along its path. And what's more: in order to achieve any effect, the laser needs to hit a small point on the surface of the asteroid for a long enough period of time to cause the material at that point to heat up and evaporate.
Danit, you didn't understand, no one focuses the sun's rays on the asteroid and uses the sun's energy to produce a laser.
Wow... Danit, you sound very impressively intelligent
I guess you are aware that you are not good at putting things simply
Danish, using scientific words to say pseudo-scientific things is a literary art, but not a scientific one.
There is a problem with the application of the technology.
Every child knows that in the fourth detail of the reasoning that appears in the theory of general relativity, Einstein stated that it is not possible to convert energy without increasing it by repeating 10 to the 37th power - otherwise the eighth rule of chapter 2 of the special theory of relativity cannot.
The trichons required for repulsion should be multiplied not only by the distance to the power of 2 but also by the margin of the material existing in the void in its marginal percentages which may cause dispersive compression on the way to the target if it is in the period after a solar storm.
Why not explain things simply and leave the article incomplete????
It is possible to describe a situation where at least 3 such systems will be established.
If one tries to cheat immediately the other two will eliminate her.
But this is only one method.
There are many other methods of control.
There is no doubt that such a system can also be very dangerous.
It depends on who is in control.
Star Wars?
What prevents those who control such a system from directing it downwards and vaporizing all kinds of enemies on the face of the earth?
If you have a system that can affect an asteroid that moves at tremendous speed and has a mass of millions of tons and at great distances - then the same system can also probably easily take down an airplane whose mass, speed and distance are zero compared to the asteroid. No?
Doesn't anyone think that something like this actually constitutes an armed satellite?
Projecting energy towards an asteroid is just one of the tasks such a system can perform.
There are additional tasks that it will be able to perform and that will make it a worthwhile investment for the entire human race.