How can an individual with Superman like powers best harvest asteroids?
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In a story I am writing there is a being with Superman level strength, flight, the ability to produce lasers, and survive in space. He has decided to solve the mineral crisis by finding and grabbing an asteroid and taking it back to earth so that it can be used to build lots of cool things and green tech.
They have the backing of an eccentric billionaire, and moderate political will in support of them, and modern earth technology.
How would they best, with brutal physical strength, flight, and lasers get that mineral wealth from space to earth?
Some constraints- they can, essentially forever, produce 200 megawatts of power for use in flight or lasers.
Their flight doesn't require notable reaction mass.
They are durable enough to survive space and high accelerations essentially forever, and air isn't a concern.
They don't have magical forcefields to make asteroids stay together or behave.
Ideally, humanity will be functional as a civilization by the end, with no world ending impacts. Props to any answer which involves less loss of human life, or none.
To summarize- how could a being with 200MW of power eternal best harvest asteroids?
Edit. As JBH noted, science based questions don't have to have fully plausible scientific questions, the answers have to be plausible. That said, you can replace the superman with a 200MW fusion spaceship if you prefer with lasers and flight.
science-based space asteroids
asked 5 hours ago
Nepene NepNepene Nep
3847
$endgroup$
|
show 6 more comments
$begingroup$
In a story I am writing there is a being with Superman level strength, flight, the ability to produce lasers, and survive in space. He has decided to solve the mineral crisis by finding and grabbing an asteroid and taking it back to earth so that it can be used to build lots of cool things and green tech.
They have the backing of an eccentric billionaire, and moderate political will in support of them, and modern earth technology.
How would they best, with brutal physical strength, flight, and lasers get that mineral wealth from space to earth?
Some constraints- they can, essentially forever, produce 200 megawatts of power for use in flight or lasers.
Their flight doesn't require notable reaction mass.
They are durable enough to survive space and high accelerations essentially forever, and air isn't a concern.
They don't have magical forcefields to make asteroids stay together or behave.
Ideally, humanity will be functional as a civilization by the end, with no world ending impacts. Props to any answer which involves less loss of human life, or none.
To summarize- how could a being with 200MW of power eternal best harvest asteroids?
Edit. As JBH noted, science based questions don't have to have fully plausible scientific questions, the answers have to be plausible. That said, you can replace the superman with a 200MW fusion spaceship if you prefer with lasers and flight.
science-based space asteroids
asked 5 hours ago
Nepene NepNepene Nep
3847
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
How does the superpowered being move around in space? Do they have a magical movement force, rocket boots, or what?
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– Bewilderer
4 hours ago
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They can harvest materials from around them and use them as an ion drive, powered by fusion power. So long as they have a reasonable quantity of water around they can keep doing things.
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– Nepene Nep
4 hours ago
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@Nepene Nep What mineral can you find "up there" that you can't "down here"?
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– Fay Suggers
4 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
This Scenario is way too fictional and unlogical to give a proper sience-based answer. This "Superman" is far from explainable, why should the methods be? I find your approach a bit... inconsistent.
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– miep
4 hours ago
6
$begingroup$
ATTENTION DOWNVOTERS! The science-based tag refers the nature of your answers, not the premise of the question. We regularly entertain questions with dubious (read: absolutely ridiculous) premises. The OP doesn't need to justify the premise to his question - you only need to justify your answer based on the restrictions of the question. Please remember to be nice.
$endgroup$
– JBH
3 hours ago
|
show 6 more comments
$begingroup$
In a story I am writing there is a being with Superman level strength, flight, the ability to produce lasers, and survive in space. He has decided to solve the mineral crisis by finding and grabbing an asteroid and taking it back to earth so that it can be used to build lots of cool things and green tech.
They have the backing of an eccentric billionaire, and moderate political will in support of them, and modern earth technology.
How would they best, with brutal physical strength, flight, and lasers get that mineral wealth from space to earth?
Some constraints- they can, essentially forever, produce 200 megawatts of power for use in flight or lasers.
Their flight doesn't require notable reaction mass.
They are durable enough to survive space and high accelerations essentially forever, and air isn't a concern.
They don't have magical forcefields to make asteroids stay together or behave.
Ideally, humanity will be functional as a civilization by the end, with no world ending impacts. Props to any answer which involves less loss of human life, or none.
To summarize- how could a being with 200MW of power eternal best harvest asteroids?
Edit. As JBH noted, science based questions don't have to have fully plausible scientific questions, the answers have to be plausible. That said, you can replace the superman with a 200MW fusion spaceship if you prefer with lasers and flight.
science-based space asteroids
asked 5 hours ago
Nepene NepNepene Nep
3847
$endgroup$
In a story I am writing there is a being with Superman level strength, flight, the ability to produce lasers, and survive in space. He has decided to solve the mineral crisis by finding and grabbing an asteroid and taking it back to earth so that it can be used to build lots of cool things and green tech.
They have the backing of an eccentric billionaire, and moderate political will in support of them, and modern earth technology.
How would they best, with brutal physical strength, flight, and lasers get that mineral wealth from space to earth?
Some constraints- they can, essentially forever, produce 200 megawatts of power for use in flight or lasers.
Their flight doesn't require notable reaction mass.
They are durable enough to survive space and high accelerations essentially forever, and air isn't a concern.
They don't have magical forcefields to make asteroids stay together or behave.
Ideally, humanity will be functional as a civilization by the end, with no world ending impacts. Props to any answer which involves less loss of human life, or none.
To summarize- how could a being with 200MW of power eternal best harvest asteroids?
Edit. As JBH noted, science based questions don't have to have fully plausible scientific questions, the answers have to be plausible. That said, you can replace the superman with a 200MW fusion spaceship if you prefer with lasers and flight.
science-based space asteroids
science-based space asteroids
asked 5 hours ago
Nepene NepNepene Nep
3847
asked 5 hours ago
Nepene NepNepene Nep
3847
edited 3 hours ago
Nepene Nep
asked 5 hours ago
Nepene NepNepene Nep
3847
asked 5 hours ago
Nepene NepNepene Nep
3847
asked 5 hours ago
Nepene NepNepene Nep
3847
3847
$begingroup$
How does the superpowered being move around in space? Do they have a magical movement force, rocket boots, or what?
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
They can harvest materials from around them and use them as an ion drive, powered by fusion power. So long as they have a reasonable quantity of water around they can keep doing things.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Nepene Nep What mineral can you find "up there" that you can't "down here"?
$endgroup$
– Fay Suggers
4 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
This Scenario is way too fictional and unlogical to give a proper sience-based answer. This "Superman" is far from explainable, why should the methods be? I find your approach a bit... inconsistent.
$endgroup$
– miep
4 hours ago
6
$begingroup$
ATTENTION DOWNVOTERS! The science-based tag refers the nature of your answers, not the premise of the question. We regularly entertain questions with dubious (read: absolutely ridiculous) premises. The OP doesn't need to justify the premise to his question - you only need to justify your answer based on the restrictions of the question. Please remember to be nice.
$endgroup$
– JBH
3 hours ago
|
show 6 more comments
$begingroup$
How does the superpowered being move around in space? Do they have a magical movement force, rocket boots, or what?
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
They can harvest materials from around them and use them as an ion drive, powered by fusion power. So long as they have a reasonable quantity of water around they can keep doing things.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Nepene Nep What mineral can you find "up there" that you can't "down here"?
$endgroup$
– Fay Suggers
4 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
This Scenario is way too fictional and unlogical to give a proper sience-based answer. This "Superman" is far from explainable, why should the methods be? I find your approach a bit... inconsistent.
$endgroup$
– miep
4 hours ago
6
$begingroup$
ATTENTION DOWNVOTERS! The science-based tag refers the nature of your answers, not the premise of the question. We regularly entertain questions with dubious (read: absolutely ridiculous) premises. The OP doesn't need to justify the premise to his question - you only need to justify your answer based on the restrictions of the question. Please remember to be nice.
$endgroup$
– JBH
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
How does the superpowered being move around in space? Do they have a magical movement force, rocket boots, or what?
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
How does the superpowered being move around in space? Do they have a magical movement force, rocket boots, or what?
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
They can harvest materials from around them and use them as an ion drive, powered by fusion power. So long as they have a reasonable quantity of water around they can keep doing things.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
They can harvest materials from around them and use them as an ion drive, powered by fusion power. So long as they have a reasonable quantity of water around they can keep doing things.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Nepene Nep What mineral can you find "up there" that you can't "down here"?
$endgroup$
– Fay Suggers
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Nepene Nep What mineral can you find "up there" that you can't "down here"?
$endgroup$
– Fay Suggers
4 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
This Scenario is way too fictional and unlogical to give a proper sience-based answer. This "Superman" is far from explainable, why should the methods be? I find your approach a bit... inconsistent.
$endgroup$
– miep
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
This Scenario is way too fictional and unlogical to give a proper sience-based answer. This "Superman" is far from explainable, why should the methods be? I find your approach a bit... inconsistent.
$endgroup$
– miep
4 hours ago
6
6
$begingroup$
ATTENTION DOWNVOTERS! The science-based tag refers the nature of your answers, not the premise of the question. We regularly entertain questions with dubious (read: absolutely ridiculous) premises. The OP doesn't need to justify the premise to his question - you only need to justify your answer based on the restrictions of the question. Please remember to be nice.
$endgroup$
– JBH
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
ATTENTION DOWNVOTERS! The science-based tag refers the nature of your answers, not the premise of the question. We regularly entertain questions with dubious (read: absolutely ridiculous) premises. The OP doesn't need to justify the premise to his question - you only need to justify your answer based on the restrictions of the question. Please remember to be nice.
$endgroup$
– JBH
3 hours ago
|
show 6 more comments
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
The best way to solve the mineral crisis isn't to get the asteroid to Earth but to get the equipment from Earth into space to allow the harvest and processing.
The cost of getting materials into space is around $25K a kilo. If Superman provided an cheap taxi service to get people and materials into space, people could go get their own asteroids.
answered 3 hours ago
ThorneThorne
14.7k42044
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Good idea. What equipment would be best to bring up, and where abouts should they put it?
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Far Earth orbit where you can use things like ion drives to escape orbit and travel out to the asteroid belt. As for things to bring up, the first thing needed is a rotating space habitat (think 2001 a Space Odyssey) and then zero G smelters
$endgroup$
– Thorne
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
There's good news and bad news. First... the bad news
The lasers are almost useless
Have you ever picked up dirt clods with your hand? Have you ever picked up a lot of them? It's a slow process. It wouldn't matter how super-strong or super-fast he is, anything's more efficient than picking up dirt clods — and that's what lasers would make of the asteroids, dirt clods.
The only reason to use them is to quickly knock away huge chunks of less-valuable rock to get at the more-valuable rock.
However, if there's so little valuable material in asteroids that you're regularly knocking off huge chunks of less-valuable rock, then using the super strength to get stuff out of the ground of good old Earth would be more efficient. Remember, it takes time to get to asteroids.
But, there's good news!
Your superperson can haul a net. A big, honking netObligatory XKCD made out of steel cable. A net that would allow him to haul a whomping big bag 'o asteroid home with him. This is good, because 200MW will haul almost any amount of asteroids home. The problem isn't getting them back to Earth orbit.
It's getting them down from Earth orbit.
Maybe the lasers have value after all...
How much energy do we have to work with? Let's do some quick math. Let's assume superdude's a buff and beautiful 235 pounds (106.6 Kg). He's gotta go 7 miles a second (11.3 Km/s). OK, F=mA, we need 1.2e6 Newtons of force. Basically, newtons = watts, so 1.6MW are needed to get up and he'll need the same to get down unless he's planning to land in the ocean or make a hole someplace.
That gives us 198.4MW to work with. That means he can land 13.2 metric tons of material. The price of gold will plummet.
And that's really good news! Well... not the price plummeting part...
What this means is that superdude can put the bag 'o asteroids into orbit, then shuttle 13.2 metric tons of it down at a time. All he needs is (literally) a world-class net or bag.
My father would be proud! I got my money back and nobody got [hurt]. (Source)
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
42.3k592204
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add a comment |
$begingroup$
Okay, so according to this article, the rotation needed to break apart the average asteroid is equivalent to one revolution every 2.2 hours. Doing some quick math, I found that the maximum acceleration an asteroid could withstand under these parameters without breaking up is 8.157 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per hour squared, or 0.000000629 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per second squared.
To put that in perspective, if the superpowered being wanted to move the largest known asteroid, Ceres, with a radius of 476 km, the maximum acceleration that it could receive is 0.299 meters per second squared. Considering Ceres is about 2.77 AU away from Earth (4.1439 * 10^8 km), it would take 1664880 seconds to move it to Earth (about 19.25 days). However, at the end of this, it would be moving 497799 meters per second (0.001 of the speed of light).
If instead the super hero went out and got the smallest known asteroid, 2012 DA14, with a radius of 10 meters, in 2013, when it passed within 27000 km of Earth, the maximum acceleration would be 0.00000629 meters per second squared, it would take 2930030 seconds to get here (about 34 days), and it would be moving only 18.430 meters per second when it got here.
So, in conclusion, if your superhero wanted to transport an asteroid, they would either be able to safely get not enough material here, or get a sizable quantity of material at a far too dangerous speed.
answered 3 hours ago
BewildererBewilderer
1,027111
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Umm, for your Ceres example, you're ignoring the fact that (if he has any knowledge of orbital mechanics at all), he will switch to decelerating upon reaching the halfway point, which would allow him to stop exactly upon reaching the destination. This is known as a Brachistochrone trajectory.
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– Gryphon
2 hours ago
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@Gryphon oh, right, I forgot about that. I will recalculate arrival times when I get the chance to calculate the force required to counteract the Earth's gravity and then put Ceres into orbit.
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– Bewilderer
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Working with simplified physics, 720GJ per second, after 10s and disregarding gravity, assuming 90kg... 7200GJ=45kg*v^2 => v = sqroot(7,200GJ/45kg) or 4Mm/s or slightly over 0.001c
That means they can move fast.
Realistically, physics gets wonky at high speeds. Maybe they could use an array of space mirrors to melt asteroid surfaces and change their orbits. Maybe they could fly out to the asteroids and change the orbits there. Really, it depends on far too many factors: how much food they need, how far the target is, how much mass the target has, the velocity vector of the target, the technology available to the civilization, and so forth.
I recommend not explaining whatever madness you are angling towards here and leaving it up to the reader-- or just having them sit on some electricity-generating bicycles. It'd be a lot simpler...
answered 4 hours ago
Gage ErvinGage Ervin
112
New contributor
Gage Ervin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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A 200MW exercise bike would truly be something to behold!
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– Cort Ammon
4 hours ago
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@CortAmmon - more likely it'd be a treadmill
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– jdunlop
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I think you may have upped their power a bit, the baseline was 200MW, and my own rough calculations show they'd only be able to accelerate around 2km/s^2, but regardless, yes, they are fast. 200MW is useful, but not an appreciable amount of a power grid.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
5 mins ago
add a comment |
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4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
The best way to solve the mineral crisis isn't to get the asteroid to Earth but to get the equipment from Earth into space to allow the harvest and processing.
The cost of getting materials into space is around $25K a kilo. If Superman provided an cheap taxi service to get people and materials into space, people could go get their own asteroids.
answered 3 hours ago
ThorneThorne
14.7k42044
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Good idea. What equipment would be best to bring up, and where abouts should they put it?
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Far Earth orbit where you can use things like ion drives to escape orbit and travel out to the asteroid belt. As for things to bring up, the first thing needed is a rotating space habitat (think 2001 a Space Odyssey) and then zero G smelters
$endgroup$
– Thorne
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The best way to solve the mineral crisis isn't to get the asteroid to Earth but to get the equipment from Earth into space to allow the harvest and processing.
The cost of getting materials into space is around $25K a kilo. If Superman provided an cheap taxi service to get people and materials into space, people could go get their own asteroids.
answered 3 hours ago
ThorneThorne
14.7k42044
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Good idea. What equipment would be best to bring up, and where abouts should they put it?
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Far Earth orbit where you can use things like ion drives to escape orbit and travel out to the asteroid belt. As for things to bring up, the first thing needed is a rotating space habitat (think 2001 a Space Odyssey) and then zero G smelters
$endgroup$
– Thorne
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The best way to solve the mineral crisis isn't to get the asteroid to Earth but to get the equipment from Earth into space to allow the harvest and processing.
The cost of getting materials into space is around $25K a kilo. If Superman provided an cheap taxi service to get people and materials into space, people could go get their own asteroids.
answered 3 hours ago
ThorneThorne
14.7k42044
$endgroup$
The best way to solve the mineral crisis isn't to get the asteroid to Earth but to get the equipment from Earth into space to allow the harvest and processing.
The cost of getting materials into space is around $25K a kilo. If Superman provided an cheap taxi service to get people and materials into space, people could go get their own asteroids.
answered 3 hours ago
ThorneThorne
14.7k42044
answered 3 hours ago
ThorneThorne
14.7k42044
answered 3 hours ago
ThorneThorne
14.7k42044
answered 3 hours ago
ThorneThorne
14.7k42044
14.7k42044
$begingroup$
Good idea. What equipment would be best to bring up, and where abouts should they put it?
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Far Earth orbit where you can use things like ion drives to escape orbit and travel out to the asteroid belt. As for things to bring up, the first thing needed is a rotating space habitat (think 2001 a Space Odyssey) and then zero G smelters
$endgroup$
– Thorne
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Good idea. What equipment would be best to bring up, and where abouts should they put it?
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Far Earth orbit where you can use things like ion drives to escape orbit and travel out to the asteroid belt. As for things to bring up, the first thing needed is a rotating space habitat (think 2001 a Space Odyssey) and then zero G smelters
$endgroup$
– Thorne
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Good idea. What equipment would be best to bring up, and where abouts should they put it?
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Good idea. What equipment would be best to bring up, and where abouts should they put it?
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Far Earth orbit where you can use things like ion drives to escape orbit and travel out to the asteroid belt. As for things to bring up, the first thing needed is a rotating space habitat (think 2001 a Space Odyssey) and then zero G smelters
$endgroup$
– Thorne
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Far Earth orbit where you can use things like ion drives to escape orbit and travel out to the asteroid belt. As for things to bring up, the first thing needed is a rotating space habitat (think 2001 a Space Odyssey) and then zero G smelters
$endgroup$
– Thorne
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
There's good news and bad news. First... the bad news
The lasers are almost useless
Have you ever picked up dirt clods with your hand? Have you ever picked up a lot of them? It's a slow process. It wouldn't matter how super-strong or super-fast he is, anything's more efficient than picking up dirt clods — and that's what lasers would make of the asteroids, dirt clods.
The only reason to use them is to quickly knock away huge chunks of less-valuable rock to get at the more-valuable rock.
However, if there's so little valuable material in asteroids that you're regularly knocking off huge chunks of less-valuable rock, then using the super strength to get stuff out of the ground of good old Earth would be more efficient. Remember, it takes time to get to asteroids.
But, there's good news!
Your superperson can haul a net. A big, honking netObligatory XKCD made out of steel cable. A net that would allow him to haul a whomping big bag 'o asteroid home with him. This is good, because 200MW will haul almost any amount of asteroids home. The problem isn't getting them back to Earth orbit.
It's getting them down from Earth orbit.
Maybe the lasers have value after all...
How much energy do we have to work with? Let's do some quick math. Let's assume superdude's a buff and beautiful 235 pounds (106.6 Kg). He's gotta go 7 miles a second (11.3 Km/s). OK, F=mA, we need 1.2e6 Newtons of force. Basically, newtons = watts, so 1.6MW are needed to get up and he'll need the same to get down unless he's planning to land in the ocean or make a hole someplace.
That gives us 198.4MW to work with. That means he can land 13.2 metric tons of material. The price of gold will plummet.
And that's really good news! Well... not the price plummeting part...
What this means is that superdude can put the bag 'o asteroids into orbit, then shuttle 13.2 metric tons of it down at a time. All he needs is (literally) a world-class net or bag.
My father would be proud! I got my money back and nobody got [hurt]. (Source)
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
42.3k592204
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
There's good news and bad news. First... the bad news
The lasers are almost useless
Have you ever picked up dirt clods with your hand? Have you ever picked up a lot of them? It's a slow process. It wouldn't matter how super-strong or super-fast he is, anything's more efficient than picking up dirt clods — and that's what lasers would make of the asteroids, dirt clods.
The only reason to use them is to quickly knock away huge chunks of less-valuable rock to get at the more-valuable rock.
However, if there's so little valuable material in asteroids that you're regularly knocking off huge chunks of less-valuable rock, then using the super strength to get stuff out of the ground of good old Earth would be more efficient. Remember, it takes time to get to asteroids.
But, there's good news!
Your superperson can haul a net. A big, honking netObligatory XKCD made out of steel cable. A net that would allow him to haul a whomping big bag 'o asteroid home with him. This is good, because 200MW will haul almost any amount of asteroids home. The problem isn't getting them back to Earth orbit.
It's getting them down from Earth orbit.
Maybe the lasers have value after all...
How much energy do we have to work with? Let's do some quick math. Let's assume superdude's a buff and beautiful 235 pounds (106.6 Kg). He's gotta go 7 miles a second (11.3 Km/s). OK, F=mA, we need 1.2e6 Newtons of force. Basically, newtons = watts, so 1.6MW are needed to get up and he'll need the same to get down unless he's planning to land in the ocean or make a hole someplace.
That gives us 198.4MW to work with. That means he can land 13.2 metric tons of material. The price of gold will plummet.
And that's really good news! Well... not the price plummeting part...
What this means is that superdude can put the bag 'o asteroids into orbit, then shuttle 13.2 metric tons of it down at a time. All he needs is (literally) a world-class net or bag.
My father would be proud! I got my money back and nobody got [hurt]. (Source)
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
42.3k592204
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
There's good news and bad news. First... the bad news
The lasers are almost useless
Have you ever picked up dirt clods with your hand? Have you ever picked up a lot of them? It's a slow process. It wouldn't matter how super-strong or super-fast he is, anything's more efficient than picking up dirt clods — and that's what lasers would make of the asteroids, dirt clods.
The only reason to use them is to quickly knock away huge chunks of less-valuable rock to get at the more-valuable rock.
However, if there's so little valuable material in asteroids that you're regularly knocking off huge chunks of less-valuable rock, then using the super strength to get stuff out of the ground of good old Earth would be more efficient. Remember, it takes time to get to asteroids.
But, there's good news!
Your superperson can haul a net. A big, honking netObligatory XKCD made out of steel cable. A net that would allow him to haul a whomping big bag 'o asteroid home with him. This is good, because 200MW will haul almost any amount of asteroids home. The problem isn't getting them back to Earth orbit.
It's getting them down from Earth orbit.
Maybe the lasers have value after all...
How much energy do we have to work with? Let's do some quick math. Let's assume superdude's a buff and beautiful 235 pounds (106.6 Kg). He's gotta go 7 miles a second (11.3 Km/s). OK, F=mA, we need 1.2e6 Newtons of force. Basically, newtons = watts, so 1.6MW are needed to get up and he'll need the same to get down unless he's planning to land in the ocean or make a hole someplace.
That gives us 198.4MW to work with. That means he can land 13.2 metric tons of material. The price of gold will plummet.
And that's really good news! Well... not the price plummeting part...
What this means is that superdude can put the bag 'o asteroids into orbit, then shuttle 13.2 metric tons of it down at a time. All he needs is (literally) a world-class net or bag.
My father would be proud! I got my money back and nobody got [hurt]. (Source)
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
42.3k592204
$endgroup$
There's good news and bad news. First... the bad news
The lasers are almost useless
Have you ever picked up dirt clods with your hand? Have you ever picked up a lot of them? It's a slow process. It wouldn't matter how super-strong or super-fast he is, anything's more efficient than picking up dirt clods — and that's what lasers would make of the asteroids, dirt clods.
The only reason to use them is to quickly knock away huge chunks of less-valuable rock to get at the more-valuable rock.
However, if there's so little valuable material in asteroids that you're regularly knocking off huge chunks of less-valuable rock, then using the super strength to get stuff out of the ground of good old Earth would be more efficient. Remember, it takes time to get to asteroids.
But, there's good news!
Your superperson can haul a net. A big, honking netObligatory XKCD made out of steel cable. A net that would allow him to haul a whomping big bag 'o asteroid home with him. This is good, because 200MW will haul almost any amount of asteroids home. The problem isn't getting them back to Earth orbit.
It's getting them down from Earth orbit.
Maybe the lasers have value after all...
How much energy do we have to work with? Let's do some quick math. Let's assume superdude's a buff and beautiful 235 pounds (106.6 Kg). He's gotta go 7 miles a second (11.3 Km/s). OK, F=mA, we need 1.2e6 Newtons of force. Basically, newtons = watts, so 1.6MW are needed to get up and he'll need the same to get down unless he's planning to land in the ocean or make a hole someplace.
That gives us 198.4MW to work with. That means he can land 13.2 metric tons of material. The price of gold will plummet.
And that's really good news! Well... not the price plummeting part...
What this means is that superdude can put the bag 'o asteroids into orbit, then shuttle 13.2 metric tons of it down at a time. All he needs is (literally) a world-class net or bag.
My father would be proud! I got my money back and nobody got [hurt]. (Source)
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
42.3k592204
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
42.3k592204
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
42.3k592204
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
42.3k592204
42.3k592204
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Okay, so according to this article, the rotation needed to break apart the average asteroid is equivalent to one revolution every 2.2 hours. Doing some quick math, I found that the maximum acceleration an asteroid could withstand under these parameters without breaking up is 8.157 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per hour squared, or 0.000000629 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per second squared.
To put that in perspective, if the superpowered being wanted to move the largest known asteroid, Ceres, with a radius of 476 km, the maximum acceleration that it could receive is 0.299 meters per second squared. Considering Ceres is about 2.77 AU away from Earth (4.1439 * 10^8 km), it would take 1664880 seconds to move it to Earth (about 19.25 days). However, at the end of this, it would be moving 497799 meters per second (0.001 of the speed of light).
If instead the super hero went out and got the smallest known asteroid, 2012 DA14, with a radius of 10 meters, in 2013, when it passed within 27000 km of Earth, the maximum acceleration would be 0.00000629 meters per second squared, it would take 2930030 seconds to get here (about 34 days), and it would be moving only 18.430 meters per second when it got here.
So, in conclusion, if your superhero wanted to transport an asteroid, they would either be able to safely get not enough material here, or get a sizable quantity of material at a far too dangerous speed.
answered 3 hours ago
BewildererBewilderer
1,027111
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Umm, for your Ceres example, you're ignoring the fact that (if he has any knowledge of orbital mechanics at all), he will switch to decelerating upon reaching the halfway point, which would allow him to stop exactly upon reaching the destination. This is known as a Brachistochrone trajectory.
$endgroup$
– Gryphon
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Gryphon oh, right, I forgot about that. I will recalculate arrival times when I get the chance to calculate the force required to counteract the Earth's gravity and then put Ceres into orbit.
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Okay, so according to this article, the rotation needed to break apart the average asteroid is equivalent to one revolution every 2.2 hours. Doing some quick math, I found that the maximum acceleration an asteroid could withstand under these parameters without breaking up is 8.157 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per hour squared, or 0.000000629 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per second squared.
To put that in perspective, if the superpowered being wanted to move the largest known asteroid, Ceres, with a radius of 476 km, the maximum acceleration that it could receive is 0.299 meters per second squared. Considering Ceres is about 2.77 AU away from Earth (4.1439 * 10^8 km), it would take 1664880 seconds to move it to Earth (about 19.25 days). However, at the end of this, it would be moving 497799 meters per second (0.001 of the speed of light).
If instead the super hero went out and got the smallest known asteroid, 2012 DA14, with a radius of 10 meters, in 2013, when it passed within 27000 km of Earth, the maximum acceleration would be 0.00000629 meters per second squared, it would take 2930030 seconds to get here (about 34 days), and it would be moving only 18.430 meters per second when it got here.
So, in conclusion, if your superhero wanted to transport an asteroid, they would either be able to safely get not enough material here, or get a sizable quantity of material at a far too dangerous speed.
answered 3 hours ago
BewildererBewilderer
1,027111
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Umm, for your Ceres example, you're ignoring the fact that (if he has any knowledge of orbital mechanics at all), he will switch to decelerating upon reaching the halfway point, which would allow him to stop exactly upon reaching the destination. This is known as a Brachistochrone trajectory.
$endgroup$
– Gryphon
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Gryphon oh, right, I forgot about that. I will recalculate arrival times when I get the chance to calculate the force required to counteract the Earth's gravity and then put Ceres into orbit.
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Okay, so according to this article, the rotation needed to break apart the average asteroid is equivalent to one revolution every 2.2 hours. Doing some quick math, I found that the maximum acceleration an asteroid could withstand under these parameters without breaking up is 8.157 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per hour squared, or 0.000000629 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per second squared.
To put that in perspective, if the superpowered being wanted to move the largest known asteroid, Ceres, with a radius of 476 km, the maximum acceleration that it could receive is 0.299 meters per second squared. Considering Ceres is about 2.77 AU away from Earth (4.1439 * 10^8 km), it would take 1664880 seconds to move it to Earth (about 19.25 days). However, at the end of this, it would be moving 497799 meters per second (0.001 of the speed of light).
If instead the super hero went out and got the smallest known asteroid, 2012 DA14, with a radius of 10 meters, in 2013, when it passed within 27000 km of Earth, the maximum acceleration would be 0.00000629 meters per second squared, it would take 2930030 seconds to get here (about 34 days), and it would be moving only 18.430 meters per second when it got here.
So, in conclusion, if your superhero wanted to transport an asteroid, they would either be able to safely get not enough material here, or get a sizable quantity of material at a far too dangerous speed.
answered 3 hours ago
BewildererBewilderer
1,027111
$endgroup$
Okay, so according to this article, the rotation needed to break apart the average asteroid is equivalent to one revolution every 2.2 hours. Doing some quick math, I found that the maximum acceleration an asteroid could withstand under these parameters without breaking up is 8.157 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per hour squared, or 0.000000629 * [asteroid radius in meters] meters per second squared.
To put that in perspective, if the superpowered being wanted to move the largest known asteroid, Ceres, with a radius of 476 km, the maximum acceleration that it could receive is 0.299 meters per second squared. Considering Ceres is about 2.77 AU away from Earth (4.1439 * 10^8 km), it would take 1664880 seconds to move it to Earth (about 19.25 days). However, at the end of this, it would be moving 497799 meters per second (0.001 of the speed of light).
If instead the super hero went out and got the smallest known asteroid, 2012 DA14, with a radius of 10 meters, in 2013, when it passed within 27000 km of Earth, the maximum acceleration would be 0.00000629 meters per second squared, it would take 2930030 seconds to get here (about 34 days), and it would be moving only 18.430 meters per second when it got here.
So, in conclusion, if your superhero wanted to transport an asteroid, they would either be able to safely get not enough material here, or get a sizable quantity of material at a far too dangerous speed.
answered 3 hours ago
BewildererBewilderer
1,027111
answered 3 hours ago
BewildererBewilderer
1,027111
answered 3 hours ago
BewildererBewilderer
1,027111
answered 3 hours ago
BewildererBewilderer
1,027111
1,027111
$begingroup$
Umm, for your Ceres example, you're ignoring the fact that (if he has any knowledge of orbital mechanics at all), he will switch to decelerating upon reaching the halfway point, which would allow him to stop exactly upon reaching the destination. This is known as a Brachistochrone trajectory.
$endgroup$
– Gryphon
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Gryphon oh, right, I forgot about that. I will recalculate arrival times when I get the chance to calculate the force required to counteract the Earth's gravity and then put Ceres into orbit.
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Umm, for your Ceres example, you're ignoring the fact that (if he has any knowledge of orbital mechanics at all), he will switch to decelerating upon reaching the halfway point, which would allow him to stop exactly upon reaching the destination. This is known as a Brachistochrone trajectory.
$endgroup$
– Gryphon
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Gryphon oh, right, I forgot about that. I will recalculate arrival times when I get the chance to calculate the force required to counteract the Earth's gravity and then put Ceres into orbit.
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Umm, for your Ceres example, you're ignoring the fact that (if he has any knowledge of orbital mechanics at all), he will switch to decelerating upon reaching the halfway point, which would allow him to stop exactly upon reaching the destination. This is known as a Brachistochrone trajectory.
$endgroup$
– Gryphon
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Umm, for your Ceres example, you're ignoring the fact that (if he has any knowledge of orbital mechanics at all), he will switch to decelerating upon reaching the halfway point, which would allow him to stop exactly upon reaching the destination. This is known as a Brachistochrone trajectory.
$endgroup$
– Gryphon
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Gryphon oh, right, I forgot about that. I will recalculate arrival times when I get the chance to calculate the force required to counteract the Earth's gravity and then put Ceres into orbit.
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Gryphon oh, right, I forgot about that. I will recalculate arrival times when I get the chance to calculate the force required to counteract the Earth's gravity and then put Ceres into orbit.
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Working with simplified physics, 720GJ per second, after 10s and disregarding gravity, assuming 90kg... 7200GJ=45kg*v^2 => v = sqroot(7,200GJ/45kg) or 4Mm/s or slightly over 0.001c
That means they can move fast.
Realistically, physics gets wonky at high speeds. Maybe they could use an array of space mirrors to melt asteroid surfaces and change their orbits. Maybe they could fly out to the asteroids and change the orbits there. Really, it depends on far too many factors: how much food they need, how far the target is, how much mass the target has, the velocity vector of the target, the technology available to the civilization, and so forth.
I recommend not explaining whatever madness you are angling towards here and leaving it up to the reader-- or just having them sit on some electricity-generating bicycles. It'd be a lot simpler...
answered 4 hours ago
Gage ErvinGage Ervin
112
New contributor
Gage Ervin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
A 200MW exercise bike would truly be something to behold!
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@CortAmmon - more likely it'd be a treadmill
$endgroup$
– jdunlop
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I think you may have upped their power a bit, the baseline was 200MW, and my own rough calculations show they'd only be able to accelerate around 2km/s^2, but regardless, yes, they are fast. 200MW is useful, but not an appreciable amount of a power grid.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
5 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Working with simplified physics, 720GJ per second, after 10s and disregarding gravity, assuming 90kg... 7200GJ=45kg*v^2 => v = sqroot(7,200GJ/45kg) or 4Mm/s or slightly over 0.001c
That means they can move fast.
Realistically, physics gets wonky at high speeds. Maybe they could use an array of space mirrors to melt asteroid surfaces and change their orbits. Maybe they could fly out to the asteroids and change the orbits there. Really, it depends on far too many factors: how much food they need, how far the target is, how much mass the target has, the velocity vector of the target, the technology available to the civilization, and so forth.
I recommend not explaining whatever madness you are angling towards here and leaving it up to the reader-- or just having them sit on some electricity-generating bicycles. It'd be a lot simpler...
answered 4 hours ago
Gage ErvinGage Ervin
112
New contributor
Gage Ervin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
A 200MW exercise bike would truly be something to behold!
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@CortAmmon - more likely it'd be a treadmill
$endgroup$
– jdunlop
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I think you may have upped their power a bit, the baseline was 200MW, and my own rough calculations show they'd only be able to accelerate around 2km/s^2, but regardless, yes, they are fast. 200MW is useful, but not an appreciable amount of a power grid.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
5 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Working with simplified physics, 720GJ per second, after 10s and disregarding gravity, assuming 90kg... 7200GJ=45kg*v^2 => v = sqroot(7,200GJ/45kg) or 4Mm/s or slightly over 0.001c
That means they can move fast.
Realistically, physics gets wonky at high speeds. Maybe they could use an array of space mirrors to melt asteroid surfaces and change their orbits. Maybe they could fly out to the asteroids and change the orbits there. Really, it depends on far too many factors: how much food they need, how far the target is, how much mass the target has, the velocity vector of the target, the technology available to the civilization, and so forth.
I recommend not explaining whatever madness you are angling towards here and leaving it up to the reader-- or just having them sit on some electricity-generating bicycles. It'd be a lot simpler...
answered 4 hours ago
Gage ErvinGage Ervin
112
New contributor
Gage Ervin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
Working with simplified physics, 720GJ per second, after 10s and disregarding gravity, assuming 90kg... 7200GJ=45kg*v^2 => v = sqroot(7,200GJ/45kg) or 4Mm/s or slightly over 0.001c
That means they can move fast.
Realistically, physics gets wonky at high speeds. Maybe they could use an array of space mirrors to melt asteroid surfaces and change their orbits. Maybe they could fly out to the asteroids and change the orbits there. Really, it depends on far too many factors: how much food they need, how far the target is, how much mass the target has, the velocity vector of the target, the technology available to the civilization, and so forth.
I recommend not explaining whatever madness you are angling towards here and leaving it up to the reader-- or just having them sit on some electricity-generating bicycles. It'd be a lot simpler...
answered 4 hours ago
Gage ErvinGage Ervin
112
New contributor
Gage Ervin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 4 hours ago
Gage ErvinGage Ervin
112
New contributor
Gage Ervin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 4 hours ago
Gage ErvinGage Ervin
112
answered 4 hours ago
Gage ErvinGage Ervin
112
112
New contributor
Gage Ervin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Gage Ervin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Gage Ervin is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$begingroup$
A 200MW exercise bike would truly be something to behold!
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@CortAmmon - more likely it'd be a treadmill
$endgroup$
– jdunlop
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I think you may have upped their power a bit, the baseline was 200MW, and my own rough calculations show they'd only be able to accelerate around 2km/s^2, but regardless, yes, they are fast. 200MW is useful, but not an appreciable amount of a power grid.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
5 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
A 200MW exercise bike would truly be something to behold!
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@CortAmmon - more likely it'd be a treadmill
$endgroup$
– jdunlop
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I think you may have upped their power a bit, the baseline was 200MW, and my own rough calculations show they'd only be able to accelerate around 2km/s^2, but regardless, yes, they are fast. 200MW is useful, but not an appreciable amount of a power grid.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
5 mins ago
$begingroup$
A 200MW exercise bike would truly be something to behold!
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
A 200MW exercise bike would truly be something to behold!
$endgroup$
– Cort Ammon
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@CortAmmon - more likely it'd be a treadmill
$endgroup$
– jdunlop
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@CortAmmon - more likely it'd be a treadmill
$endgroup$
– jdunlop
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I think you may have upped their power a bit, the baseline was 200MW, and my own rough calculations show they'd only be able to accelerate around 2km/s^2, but regardless, yes, they are fast. 200MW is useful, but not an appreciable amount of a power grid.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
5 mins ago
$begingroup$
I think you may have upped their power a bit, the baseline was 200MW, and my own rough calculations show they'd only be able to accelerate around 2km/s^2, but regardless, yes, they are fast. 200MW is useful, but not an appreciable amount of a power grid.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
5 mins ago
add a comment |
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$begingroup$
How does the superpowered being move around in space? Do they have a magical movement force, rocket boots, or what?
$endgroup$
– Bewilderer
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
They can harvest materials from around them and use them as an ion drive, powered by fusion power. So long as they have a reasonable quantity of water around they can keep doing things.
$endgroup$
– Nepene Nep
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Nepene Nep What mineral can you find "up there" that you can't "down here"?
$endgroup$
– Fay Suggers
4 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
This Scenario is way too fictional and unlogical to give a proper sience-based answer. This "Superman" is far from explainable, why should the methods be? I find your approach a bit... inconsistent.
$endgroup$
– miep
4 hours ago
6
$begingroup$
ATTENTION DOWNVOTERS! The science-based tag refers the nature of your answers, not the premise of the question. We regularly entertain questions with dubious (read: absolutely ridiculous) premises. The OP doesn't need to justify the premise to his question - you only need to justify your answer based on the restrictions of the question. Please remember to be nice.
$endgroup$
– JBH
3 hours ago