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Comment by contravariant | Hacker News Reader

We're going to need a lot worse if we're ever planning to deflect/mine asteroids. Sometimes there are good reasons to invent abusable techonology.

And well, of all the ways the millennia old weapons race could have ended, it could have been worse.

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If we're going to colonize the Solar System, nuclear weapons are going to feel like child's play. Any propulsion system capable of interplanetary travel in reasonable time frames (weeks to months) is also a weapon of mass destruction, just due to energies involved.

Colonizing the Solar system is slightly more attainable than mining asteroids, but yeah the energies involved are pretty massive.

You going to blow up your enemies with a solar sail?

No, just with the lasers that propel that sail.

(I did mention reasonable durations of travel.)

A big asteroid, a rocket to get there and a whole bunch of paint would already be a weapon of mass destruction.

Where does the paint come into it?

If you paint the asteroid red racing stripes, it gets faster.

If you can change the reflectance/albedo of the asteroid the pressure of sunlight will push it into a slightly different orbit. That different orbit is one where it hits what you want it to hit.

I'm going to guess it's a reference to the most recent season / one of the later books in Expanse series. Spoiler (rot13):

Fbzr Orygref fgbyr ohpxrgf bs fgrnygu cnvag sebz Znef zvyvgnel, hfrq gurz gb znxr n srj nfgrebvqf zhpu uneqre gb qrgrpg, naq gura chg gur ebpxf n pbyyvfvba pbhefr jvgu Rnegu sebz nsne.

I'm not sure about The Expanse, but barry-cotter is right. If you can change the color of the asteroid then through the change in radiation pressure you can change the orbit of the asteroid. This can have a fairly substantial effect over a long period of time.

Problem: Giant asteroid heading for Earth

Solution: Nuke it

Problem: 15 medium-sized radioactive asteroids heading for Earth

Solution: 15 more nukes!

Problem: 225 radioactive asteroids heading for Earth

We've both played asteroids, right? We know asteroids only sub divide twice. Now we just need to get those next 225 nukes off before the alien spaceship passes through and starts shooting.

(Of course, then another 4 big asteroids appear...)

Better solution: land a bulldozer against it, powered by a nuclear engine.

Outcome: a giant asteroid parked in Earth orbit, ready to mine for all its worth.

(Hell, if you're lucky, the bulldozer may only need the fuel to get there, and then can use bits of target asteroid for reaction mass. A nuclear-thermal nozzle will eat anything.)

Also Bruce Willis funeral.

You just reminded me that most of the wars in the fictional Ace Combat universe are fueled by the abuse of giant megaweapons designed to protect the earth from asteroid impacts. Gave me a good chuckle.

What makes you think it has ended?

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