Asteroid to hit Mars

[Myles]

Well, I was going to anticipate that point, but I was too lazy to at the time.

If two equivalent asteroids were held above earth and mars and dropped form the same height, it would be as you said.

But the asteroid and the planet already have some very high relative speed. Their orbits are (we can assume) not common. So, while the gravity of the planet will have some definite effect, I would estimate it to minimally alter the existing speed difference as the two bodies come together. I suppose some fairly simple calculations could settle how much additional delta V the gravity of earth vs mars gives the asteroid (assuming all other trajectory parameters are the same) that is already closing at some tens of km/sec.

This is my physical intuition talking here. No doubt the respective gravities of earth and mars will "suck" the asteroid in and add additional speed. It's just the magnitude of the additional delta V vs the already existing speed that I suspect is not that significant.

I'd love to be proven wrong here if someone was willing to do the calculations?

I also suspect that the earths atmosphere, for a good sized asteroid moving at 17 to 20 km/sec would not be "noticed" much by the asteroid in the 1 to 2 seconds it took to pass through the dense portion of the atmosphere.

Thanks for pointing out my SMALL oversight. I did a rough calculation which suggests that from a distance of 1 mile above earth and mars respectively the addition velocities would be about 392 mph and 218 mph. As you say small beer compared to the original velocity of the asteroid . I estimate , using 1/2 m V^2 that the kinetic energy in both cases would be increased byabout 8K M and 2.4K M respectively.

For the sake of comparison with your figures, I have translated the velocities into metric measure on the basis of 1m=3'. They work out as 191m/sec and 106m/sec respectively. Obviously. these value will be larger if we were to calculate them from the time the asteroid enters earth's atmosphere as opposed to my values based on a height of 1 mile. They would, however, still be insignificant , in relation to 17-20km/sec.

 

[orcot]

This asteoid is most probably going to miss the opportunity rover But what are the changes that it would feel the resulting earthquake and could it possible see the ejecta in the high atmosphere?

The region is known to had water in the past resent theories predict that there would be large sulpher deposits could it's impact be measured in the atmosphere composition and could this have a effect on the temprature?

 

[blobrana]

MRO to track possible asteroid impact

"New Mexico Tech's Magdalena Ridge Observatory is already making its mark in the annals of astronomy research after being recently tasked by NASA to make detailed observations of an asteroid that is now given a 1 in 75 chance of hitting Mars on January 30.
On Dec. 18, observatory researchers began tracking the asteroid, designated 2007 WD5, with the research facility's 2.4-meter telescope."

Read more

Latitude 33 58 36 S, Longitude –107 11 05

 

[Enmos]

Is it possible to deflect it ? With nukes or something ?

 

[blobrana]

Hum,
unfortunatly, not this time.

But there is ample time, if it misses, to get better knowledge of its orbit and launch a constellation of nuclear warheads so that we can finally destroy that face, once and for all.

 

[Enmos]

Hum,
unfortunatly, not this time.

But there is ample time, if it misses, to get better knowledge of its orbit and launch a constellation of nuclear warheads so that we can finally destroy that face, once and for all.

I was thinking more along the lines of deflecting it towards us..
Wouldn't it be great to study the impact and the consequences ?
It would also mean a serious increase in the funding of research that deals with this kind of thing.

 

[blobrana]

Hum,
yeah, i would be fascinating.
But it smacks of you being on the side of the Arachnids.

 

[Enmos]

But it smacks of you being on the side of the Arachnids.

So ?

 

[Orleander]

I was thinking more along the lines of deflecting it towards us.. ....

you would kill my children because it would be interesting to see how they would die??

 

[Enmos]

you would kill my children because it would be interesting to see how they would die??

Sure..

I was kidding of course.. lol

 

[Orleander]

Woo-Hoo!!!:yay:

The odds were increased to 1-in-25 this week after a Ph.D. student pored through the archives and plotted the asteroid's motions before its official discovery. The new information allowed scientists to improve their calculations of the asteroid's orbit and flight path.

 

[blobrana]

"Pre-discovery observations of asteroid 2007 WD5, taken on November 8, 2007 have allowed its orbit to be refined and the uncertainties for the late January Mars encounter have been improved. The impact probability resulting from the recent orbit refinement has increased to a surprising 3.9% (about 1 in 25 odds)...In the unlikely event of an impact, the time would be 2008 January 30 at 10:56 UT (2:56 a.m. PST) with an uncertainty of a few minutes."

Source

 

[Killjoy]

Woo-Hoo!!!:yay:

The odds were increased to 1-in-25 this week after a Ph.D. student pored through the archives and plotted the asteroid's motions before its official discovery. The new information allowed scientists to improve their calculations of the asteroid's orbit and flight path.

'Course, that probably also increases the likelyhood of a "deflection shot" which ends up comin' right at us.

You got a catcher's mitt ?

 

[Janus58]

Everyone starts off with a little learning. It's all in the application of the learning.

The problem comes in when someone applies " a little learning" to something that requires a lot more.

The entire poem:

A little learning is a dangerous thing ;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring :
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Fired at first sight with what the Muse imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of Arts ;
While from the bounded level of our mind
Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind,
But, more advanced, behold with strange surprise
New distant scenes of endless science rise !
So pleased at first the towering Alps we try,
Mount o’er the vales, and seem to tread the sky ;
The eternal snows appear already past,
And the first clouds and mountains seem the last ;
But those attained, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthened way ;
The increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes,
Hill peep o’er hills, and Alps on Alps arise !

Alexander Pope

 

[cosmictraveler]

Hum,
unfortunatly, not this time.

But there is ample time, if it misses, to get better knowledge of its orbit and launch a constellation of nuclear warheads so that we can finally destroy that face, once and for all.

All that need be done is to explode a 10 megaton warhead approxamatly a half of a mile away from the asteroid and the shock wave will deflect it enough for it not to create any problems.

 

[Janus58]

Well, I was going to anticipate that point, but I was too lazy to at the time.

If two equivalent asteroids were held above earth and mars and dropped form the same height, it would be as you said.

But the asteroid and the planet already have some very high relative speed. Their orbits are (we can assume) not common. So, while the gravity of the planet will have some definite effect, I would estimate it to minimally alter the existing speed difference as the two bodies come together. I suppose some fairly simple calculations could settle how much additional delta V the gravity of earth vs mars gives the asteroid (assuming all other trajectory parameters are the same) that is already closing at some tens of km/sec.

This is my physical intuition talking here. No doubt the respective gravities of earth and mars will "suck" the asteroid in and add additional speed. It's just the magnitude of the additional delta V vs the already existing speed that I suspect is not that significant.

I'd love to be proven wrong here if someone was willing to do the calculations?

For an asteroid with an initial relative speed of 20 km/sec, the impact speed difference between Earth and Mars works out to about 2.29 Km/sec. In terms of kinetic energy, the Earth impact would be about 23% more energetic.

 

[superluminal]

For an asteroid with an initial relative speed of 20 km/sec, the impact speed difference between Earth and Mars works out to about 2.29 Km/sec. In terms of kinetic energy, the Earth impact would be about 23% more energetic.

Excellent! Thank you very much. That's significant.

 

[Janus58]

Excellent! Thank you very much. That's significant.

With what I could find out with a quick search, 2007 WD5 should have a initial relative velocity to Mars of around 12.5 km/sec. With this initial speed, the Earth/Mar's impact velocity difference comes out to a about 24.5% and the Energy of Impact difference to over 50%.

 

[Read-Only]

With what I could find out with a quick search, 2007 WD5 should have a initial relative velocity to Mars of around 12.5 km/sec. With this initial speed, the Earth/Mar's impact velocity difference comes out to a about 24.5% and the Energy of Impact difference to over 50%.

Heh! So much for Kaneda's statements about forming a larger crater on Mars! :bugeye:

Thank you very much.

 

[kaneda]

Heh! So much for Kaneda's statements about forming a larger crater on Mars! :bugeye:

You should ask your teacher to help you with your reading skills as they still need work. I said Mars would have a larger crater than Earth from a similar impact and that a large impact on Mars would be good for astronomers on Earth. I never said there would be a large crater.