tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010470568679468360.post8944065457065343912..comments2023-09-11T20:11:20.341+12:00Comments on Profiles of our future in space: Blowing up asteroidsAndrew Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249167164554047476noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010470568679468360.post-59450573020789760472013-09-18T08:42:23.645+12:002013-09-18T08:42:23.645+12:00I'm writing this comment as a (now) heavily bi...I'm writing this comment as a (now) heavily biased observer, since this is basically what my own blog is about.<br /><br />In principle, everything about your idea is fine. But the only benefit it buys you is radiation shielding, and there are several complications with practically doing it that haven't been addressed. It's certainly a matter of dispute whether the benefit of (nearly) perfect radiation shielding of 125 meters is a worthwhile prize for dealing with all those complications. But of course, this is what you get by limiting the discussion to near-Earth objects. There are several km-scale objects at our distance from the sun, but they are both highly inclined from the solar system's plane and highly elliptic - making the delta V cost of reaching them extremely prohibitive. We're left with an ideal NEA population of bodies that are roughly 100 meters or so, as you postulate. Exactly what these are made of is still an interesting field of research, but certainly a large fraction are the common C-type things, which are easily cut but probably cohesive to some significant degree.<br /><br />That cohesiveness is a problem when you try to inflate that balloon in extremeeeemly low microgravity fields. The material will prefer to stay solid, and only offer you some large fracture lines. You'll cut the object in half as opposed to rearranging it. The picture you paint is consistent with an asteroid made of sand, but those don't really exist. There are several dangers of managing the fracturing of the body, and it's possible you'll employ a system of explosives or something like that in order to have it move like you want. If not careful, the balloon could shake off the large chunks of asteroid in some region of the sphere, and expose itself to space. That will then exceed the strength of the balloon and you'll have to try again at great cost.AlanSEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08119889774421336682noreply@blogger.com