De-orbiting the moon

[T.Neo]

But actually, I was refering to the idiotic ideas about one of those flares stripping away the atmosphere, tilting our axis, etc. There are people out there who believe this.

Yeah... that is nonsense. Popularised by such drivel as The Core and 2012...

As for falling debris, AFAIK there are only two incidents in recorded history when any object from space hit a person (none of them leathal).

AFAIK there was one incident where falling debris came close to an airliner over the Pacific. As I said, a remote risk.

And then there is USA 193, which was deorbited due to hydrazine posing a danger to people on the ground.

Even for large scale impatcs, the only current candidate is that Apophis rock, and not even that would cause a mass extinction. Of course, one undiscovered mountain-sized rock might hit next week for all we know, but still.

Yeah, it's the ones that you don't know about that pose a problem. I'd be more scared of those than Apophis, which has been shown to have a rather small impact probability.

Getting hit by lightning has a bigger chance of happening than any of these.

Fortunately lightning strikes do not destroy cities or cause mass extinctions.

I'm suprised there isn't a similarly "wide-spread" fear of gamma-ray bursts hitting Earth yet.

Indeed. Or relativistic attack. Some non empathetic alien society could take a dislike to the presence of our civilisation, and blow it to bits. And we would stand no chance of defending against it.

A better idea would be to dam the oceans in such a way, that the tide the Moon creates gets pushed a bit further and a bit more mass...

I dunno about the effects on the global climate... it would cause massive trouble with ocean currents.

I like my gravity tug better, but the people operating the thing better do it right...

 

[tori]

You could instead use a matter compressor (based on IJD or another handwavium technology) and compress the Moon to a grain about 1/5 mm in diameter - it would then become a black hole and, in a little over 10^45 years, gently evaporate into the deep void of space... )

 

[Sky Captain]

Indeed. Or relativistic attack. Some non empathetic alien society could take a dislike to the presence of our civilisation, and blow it to bits. And we would stand no chance of defending against it.

On the positive side, if Earth were struck by major RKV spam and you happen to be on the attacked hemisphere you will never know Earth was under attack

 

[T.Neo]

On the positive side, if Earth were struck by major RKV spam and you happen to be on the attacked hemisphere you will never know Earth was under attack

Like that helps. :suicide:

You could instead use a matter compressor (based on IJD or another handwavium technology) and compress the Moon to a grain about 1/5 mm in diameter - it would then become a black hole and, in a little over 10^45 years, gently evaporate into the deep void of space... )

Wouldn't a lunar mass black hole evaporate faster than that?

 

[RisingFury]

If only there were more people like Sagan, we would just might have less people worrying about such things.

Well, our generation has Neil deGrasse Tyson.

 

[Hmuda]

Well, our generation has Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Heh, I was hoping someone would bring up his name. I can't really make a definite judgement of him yet, since I only seen a few of his speeches and lectures on the net, but it's very refreshing to see anyone talk so enthusiasticly about science as he does.

 

[tori]

Wouldn't a lunar mass black hole evaporate faster than that?

This equation (from wiki) says that it would take a couple existences worth of time, no idea if it's correct though.

[math]t_{ev} = \frac{5120 \pi G^2 M_{\odot}^3}{\hbar c^4}[/math]

edit: hm, weird... looks like the latex engine's acting up again, it's supposed to say t_{ev} = \frac{5120 \pi G^2 M_{\odot}^3}{\hbar c^4}

 

[Evil_Onyx]

A better idea would be to dam the oceans in such a way, that the tide the Moon creates gets pushed a bit less.

By adding to the friction between the Earth and oceans you would increase the rate the moon is accelerating, the only way terrafoming would help would be to smooth out the crust and let the tides move easier.

 

[RisingFury]

By adding to the friction between the Earth and oceans you would increase the rate the moon is accelerating, the only way terrafoming would help would be to smooth out the crust and let the tides move easier.

No, you're decrease it...

This is the reason why Moon is getting energy:

Two tidal bulges are created by the Moon and pushed ahead of the Moon by Earth's rotation. Since one of the bulges is ~2 Earth radii closer, it's gravitational effects are stronger then the one behind, so you get a net force, pulling the Moon in the direction of it's orbital velocity.


This would be the ideal setup:

This way you don't have a net force, since no tidal bulge is ahead of the Moon. The Moon stops getting energy and stops trying to escape.

 

[TMac3000]

"Rational fear of the Moon"... Hm, don't be alarmed. The ill effects only last a few days and it happens just once per month. Lock yourself in with some water and raw meat, and nobody will be harmed.

Extra points if you bite someone and they get a rational fear of the moon.

Double bonus if a team of British SAS storm into your house and try to kill you:thumbup:

GODLIKE if you get that movie reference.

EVEN MORE GODLIKE if Ghostrider gets mad at me for stealing his lines:tiphat:

 

[Izack]

This just keeps getting better and better. :rofl:

 

[garyw]

GODLIKE if you get that movie reference.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280609/

 

[Evil_Onyx]

RisingFury I think you miss under stood what i said, but under stood what i was getting at.

The friction between the crust and oceans causes the tidal bulges to move ahead of where the bulges would be if there wold be less friction.

By adding dams as suggested it would move the bulge ahead of it where it is now.

 

[River Crab]

You wanna know what I think?
I think someone is really, REALLY bad at Majora's Mask.

Oh, and trolling fail BTW.
Everyone should know by now that any attempt to troll Orbiter-Forum will only result in a another ridiculously self-sustained intelligent discussion.

 

[Izack]

Everyone should know by now that any attempt to troll Orbiter-Forum will only result in a another ridiculously self-sustained intelligent discussion.

I love engineers.

 

[jedimaster1214]

You wanna know what I think?
I think someone is really, REALLY bad at Majora's Mask.

:rofl::rofl:

 

[River Crab]

For the win.

 

[Izack]

For the win.

:rofl:


Why is it only now that I notice that the image is copyright 2012??