Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
No, not that kind of baked.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                                   

Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register. Please log in or create an account.

Cache A Falling Star

Full-spectrum analysis at the point of atmospheric entry.
  (+4, -3)
(+4, -3)
  [vote for,
against]

Using what might be related to barrage balloons, mount mid-air rocket launch pads which will fire rockets in an arc across the path of meteors, before they land (yes, yes, I know, they're then classed as meteorites, alright?) and log as wide a spectrum of response with the atmosphere as possible in this short-trajectory rocket's onboard instrumentation, which will then survive the fall to the ground (that's the plan, anyway). The advantage is that the rocket is launched the moment the meteor is detected, and from a somewhat nearer start point, being elevated away from the lower levels of atmosphere.
Ian Tindale, Jan 13 2009

UK astronomers observe asteroid before it crashes into Earth http://www.alphagal...6477&CultureCode=en
[Ian Tindale, Mar 26 2009]

[link]






       [+] but do you really miss that much of the spectrum from atmospheric conditions ?
FlyingToaster, Jan 13 2009
  

       It's also a matter of proximity. You can get there easier from here.
Ian Tindale, Jan 13 2009
  

       How do you prevent an avalanche effect, as your meteor detectors detect unusual spectra (ie rocket exhaust) and launch yet more rockets?
Do we automatically assume that meteorites don't contain aluminium and potassium?
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jan 13 2009
  

       That's a very good point. In that case, simply reverse two steps of the process: a rocket on the ground will immediately launch and at a certain altitude, a barrage balloon will be jettisoned, containing the instrumentation. When the balloon crashes to the ground, smashing into thousands of pieces, hopefully the instrumentation is recoverable.
Ian Tindale, Jan 13 2009
  

       Instead of looking up and trying to get higher up, how about looking down from space and being above most of the atmosphere and virtually all of the water vapor?   

       What's the first sign of a meteor entering the atmosphere? Could a sateilite's imaging sensor be turned very quickly to that spot? Seems like it could happen faster than a rocket launch and one sateilite would cover a vastly larger area.   

       Still, the idea of lifting rockets with ballons is a very good one. Get above the dense air, and get as much elevation as you can almost "for free" compared to the launch costs with rocketery.
DavidinKenai, Jan 18 2009
  

       This is all very clear to me, apart from the "why". Also the "where", "how" and "who". And maybe the "what" and "when".
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 18 2009
  

       Don't forget the "whither"
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jan 18 2009
  

       Use up spare time on photographic satellites, during "night time" transits. That would be the best time to photograph meteors. Given their sensitivity to broad spectra, they're the logical choice.   

       Why do it? Spectographic analysis of meteorites might be fun. It might also allow identification of any change in composition, such as would be found in a cloud of pebbles around a large asteroid that has strayed into our orbital path, for instance.
UnaBubba, Jan 18 2009
  

       This just seems like a pun in need of a notion (form dictating function).   

       With the pun "Cache a Falling Star", can anyone come up with a more believable invention? One that seems like the function actually came first?
Wily Peyote, Jan 18 2009
  

       Lindsay Lohan in my footlocker?   

       With some bulk shaved off. The rocket having been raised privies above the bedragged friction of ambient air, at lower altitudes.A potential benny is a pay lode?. Say an ice gun hailing (literally), or a few dozen pico sats.... shooting off to leo , geo, or at sounding altitudes they could auto nav along the rocket a sec. Or in my uneducated giddy way of daydreaming these funner ideas: they could swarm the IHO ( identified hurling object) ...Ahhh, good fun and great training for THE NEXT BIG ONE...
Sir_Misspeller, Jan 18 2009
  

       [SM] I'm not gonna even try to read that crap from now on.
FlyingToaster, Jan 18 2009
  

       //can anyone come up with a more believable invention//
[checks [WP]'s home page. Fails to find _anything_]
AbsintheWithoutLeave, Jan 18 2009
  

       //[SM] I'm not gonna even try to read that crap from now on.//   

       [Toaster], I'm with you. Just what in blue blazes are you on about [SM] ?
Custardguts, Jan 18 2009
  

       How is that some people just can't get it through their heads that some of us think in puns, day in & day out? Most of my idea names are puns, because it's how the language arranges itself in my miind. Most of [Ian Tindale]'s are puns. Hell, the man was a stand-up comedian for years. How can he NOT make plays on words?   

       I think it's just fucking hilarious that [Wily Peyote] is a really pisspoor pun on Chuck Jones's eternal loser-coyote creation and a cactus from northern Mexico and southern Texas, that contains a psychoactive alkaoid. Hahahahaha, rofl, etc.
UnaBubba, Jan 18 2009
  

       We’re making pun of science?   

       On any clear night, you may see one meteor every 10 minutes, in a reasonable field of view. Maybe the idea is to fire rockets during meteor showers, where there can be one meteor every minute. Can you aim and launch each rocket to a suitable height during the microsecond that a meteor is in view?   

       Given 6 meteors per hour, times 24 hours, times 365 days, you have 52560 visible meteors requiring a rocket launch. About 500 meteorites of various sizes land each year, and half of those would land during the day, undetected. Since 75% of the remainder are likely to land in an ocean, your plan recovers 62 meteorites per year, if you have total planetary coverage for your launch system. Most of those meteorites will be the size of a pea, and you still have a lot of land to search.   

       But meteors flame-out, slow, and cool during descent. I’m not saying your system won’t work for giant fireball meteors that hit the ground in flames. In which case, if any life on the planet survives, they should just head in the direction of the crater.
Amos Kito, Jan 18 2009
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle