Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE 3/18/2018
Planetary defense specialists have taken a hard look at deflecting Earth-bound asteroids and scoping out the prospects to nudge a massive asteroid.
The effort is part of a national planetary defense collaboration between NASA, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which includes LLNL and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Nailed by HAMMER?
At the heart of the assessment is use of a 9-meter-tall, 8.8-ton spacecraft — dubbed HAMMER (Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response vehicle) — to serve as either a kinetic impactor, essentially a battering ram, or as a transport vehicle for a nuclear device.
A possible mission for HAMMER: deflect 101955 Bennu, a massive asteroid with a diameter more than five football fields), tipping the scales at roughly 79 billion kilograms (1,664 times as heavy as the Titanic), circling the sun at around 63,000 miles per hour.
More:
http://www.leonarddavid.com/planetary-defense-options-and-uncertainties/
