Let’s be trustworthy: the asteroid belt is a bit of a mess. It is full of huge rocks hurtling round at excessive speeds, sometimes getting tossed in the direction of assorted planets, and usually inflicting a ruckus. On this episode of Dead Planets Society, our hosts Chelsea Whyte and Leah Crane have determined to embark on a photo voltaic system cleanup mission: to unify the asteroid belt into a single rocky world.
But it isn’t as straightforward as simply stirring up the asteroid belt and hoping every part smashes together. For the asteroids to stick together as a substitute of simply creating much more asteroids, they’ve to collide at a comparatively gradual pace. An enormous funnel would possibly work to be certain they all get squished together. Or possibly an injection of aerogel throughout the complete asteroid belt may gradual them down and finally convey them to a light halt – although the ring itself may make it tough to discover the outer photo voltaic system, and it may have some nasty results on Earth’s wildlife, too.
Leah and Chelsea had been joined for this episode by planetary astronomers Andy Rivkin at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and Kat Volk at the University of Arizona.
Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes outlandish concepts about how to tinker with the cosmos – from placing out the solar to inflicting a gravitational wave apocalypse – and topics them to the legal guidelines of physics to see how they fare.
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Transcript
Leah Crane: This is a podcast the place we think about what it is likely to be like if we got cosmic powers to rearrange the universe.
Chelsea Whyte: I’m Chelsea Whyte, Senior News Editor at New Scientist.
Leah Crane: And I’m Leah Crane, Physics and Space Reporter at New Scientist. Today we need to discuss the asteroid belt, the stream of asteroids circling the solar between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Chelsea Whyte: But we’re not going to destroy them. This time we puzzled what would occur if we mushed them all together. Unify the asteroid belt.
Leah Crane: All for one and one for all. I would like a new planet, making a planet from scratch is simply too exhausting, let’s make one from asteroids as a substitute.
Chelsea Whyte: I imply, that’s a bit of a flip of course for you, however okay, new planet it’s.
Leah Crane: It’s time to begin recent.
Chelsea Whyte: So, let’s get into it, I feel we ought to name an knowledgeable as a result of I’ve heaps of questions. First, aren’t asteroids type of a drawback? I imply they’re so messy and so they threaten planets and so they look like we ought to simply, kind of, tidy them all up.
Leah Crane: I do suppose it’s going to be a little tougher than simply sweeping them up with a huge cosmic broom. Especially as a result of we most likely need to do that in a manner that doesn’t destroy the relaxation of the photo voltaic system.
Chelsea Whyte: Yeah, I imply, most likely. We’re going to have to attempt some non-broom strategies then I assume. Maybe some kind of colossal funnel. And then, how do we catch the particles? Maybe we may use some type of cosmic jello mould.
Leah Crane: And the different query, what would that planet be like? We spoke to Andy Rivkin at Johns Hopkins University, who listeners might keep in mind joined us to create the asteroid gong a few episodes again.
Leah Crane: We don’t need to blow up a planet, we’re not destroying something on this episode, probably.
Andy Rivkin: I hardly know you, who’re these folks?
Leah Crane: This is an enchancment marketing campaign.
Chelsea Whyte: Yes, a little bit of a tidy up of the photo voltaic system.
Andy Rivkin: Yeah, that’s borderline insulting to an asteroid scientist.
Leah Crane: Sorry. Sorry not sorry, assist us get rid of the asteroids. What we need to do is take the asteroids and cease them from being separate and unite them behind a frequent trigger, which is being a planet.
Chelsea Whyte: So, the query actually is, (a) may we do this? And (b) would it not disturb the photo voltaic system at all? Because it will have the identical quantity of mass in the identical zone-ish. Would anybody else get out of kinds? Would Jupiter have a exhausting time, or Mars? Or, would it not simply kind of be like, ‘Eh, shrug, cosmic shrug.’
Leah Crane: Aside from the asteroid scientists being actually upset with us.
Chelsea Whyte: Yeah.
Andy Rivkin: Disappointed, it’s extra of a disappointment.
Leah Crane: Oh no, that’s worse.
Chelsea Whyte: Not all scientists are disenchanted in the concept although. We additionally chatted with Kat Volk at the University of Arizona and he or she agrees that asteroids simply aren’t that thrilling.
Leah Crane: Asteroids suck.
Kat Volk: Yes, they’re boring.
Leah Crane: They’re all over the place, they’re like the mud mites of the photo voltaic system. And I feel they’d be higher if we turned them into a planet. Usually, I advocate for smashing issues up, on this case I’m advocating the reverse. I feel we ought to un-smash the asteroids. Could we simply fire up the asteroid belt, would they finally smash together?
Kat Volk: You want them to smash together at very low speeds to merge and likewise I’ve acquired some unhealthy information about the complete mass of the asteroid belt.
Leah Crane: Oh no.
Kat Volk: It’s even smaller than Pluto.
Chelsea Whyte: Oh, actually?
Kat Volk: Yes, truly there’s a good pie chart exhibiting, like, Ceres and Vesta, for those who simply mixed the two of them, that’s about a third of the complete mass of the asteroid belt.
Leah Crane: That’s such a bummer.
Kat Volk: So, you’re going to wrestle to get one thing a lot larger than Ceres and Vesta.
Leah Crane: In case you don’t know, Ceres and Vesta and are icy dwarf planets in the asteroid belt, and so they’re every manner smaller than Earth’s moon.
Chelsea Whyte: Why does the asteroid belt loom so giant in my thoughts. I really feel prefer it’s so full and it actually isn’t.
Kat Volk: I blame Star Wars.
Chelsea Whyte: Yes, that’s most likely what it’s.
Chelsea Whyte: So, then we had to ask, how can we gather all of these unfold out rocks?
Leah Crane: So, I really feel like there’s two methods to do that, one is put up a huge street block and simply let every part smash into it. And then kind of extrude it out.
Chelsea Whyte: Yes, like, possibly like a funnel.
Leah Crane: Yeah
Chelsea Whyte: You know, it all smashes into the funnel after which will get pushed by way of this slender neck so that-
Leah Crane: Like a meat grinder.
Kat Volk: Yes, for those who orbit the funnel in order that issues type of make light collisions. Someone ought to make a cartoon.
Chelsea Whyte: And then we would simply want, like, a slicer at the finish of the funnel to chop off totally different planet sizes.
Leah Crane: This is the asteroid sausage.
Chelsea Whyte: Yes, that is the sausage manufacturing facility.
Kat Volk: It doesn’t sound all that far off from some of our fashions.
Leah Crane: We have a particular provide for our listeners, you may get 4 weeks of New Scientist free, adopted by a month-to-month subscription worth of 9.99, that’s in {dollars} or kilos. You’ll get limitless entry to our web site and app, plus advantages together with newsletters, important guides and invites to subscriber-only occasions.
Chelsea Whyte: Go to NewScientist.com/dpsoffer to begin your free month of New Scientist.
Leah Crane: Alright, we’re again. I do love the cosmic funnel nevertheless it would possibly get smashed if we simply plop it down in the center of the asteroid belt. But don’t fear, Andy had a plan.
Andy Rivkin: The manner you’ll need to do it- so Ceres is the largest object, Pallas is the second largest, it’s the third most large. Ceres and Pallas have orbits that aren’t tremendous totally different from each other. So, I feel what you’ll need to do is take Ceres and Pallas. You take Pallas, possibly you type of gradual it down, so type of have a gradual, gradual docking with Ceres. You know, simply strategy very slowly so that you simply don’t make extra particles and extra stuff to clear up. So, I feel that will be job one, that will get you most, mass sensible, most of the manner there. I feel you’d then possibly want to exit to some of the asteroid households that are, you recognize, these collections of hundreds and hundreds of asteroids which have very related orbits as a result of they fashioned, you recognize, one thing hit a huge asteroid after which the particles had sufficient pace to escape from the essential asteroid, however not sufficient to actually change its orbit round the solar an excessive amount of. Then type of, do the identical factor, type of convey these issues again together. Maybe you can get down to a few dozen or a hundred objects on the market in the asteroid belt. I feel Vesta could be one of these, the Vesta household, for those who may convey all these down to Vesta. Vesta is the third largest object after which simply attempt to do the native clear up that manner.
Chelsea Whyte: Right, little by little after which mush them together.
Leah Crane: I simply had the stupidest thought and I actually prefer it. You know the way in the early days of the house programme, astronauts used to have all their meals encased in gelatine so it didn’t make crumbs.
Chelsea Whyte: Oh, do we want a giant jello mould?
Leah Crane: I simply really feel like we’ve been speaking a lot about ensuring these collisions are actually gradual so that they don’t create a lot of crumbs, and as a substitute of that, we may simply coat all the asteroids in gelatine.
Chelsea Whyte: I prefer it, I feel we would wish a complete lot of jello.
Andy Rivkin: Yeah, I’m not- let me provide, instead maybe, if we’re going to do that. So, there may be aerogel. aerogel is the type of materials that acquired used on the Stardust mission, to type of gather comet mud because it zang through- zang? Zinged by way of. I don’t know what the previous tense of zing is. Zinged, I assume. So, for those who may, so long as we’re going on this route, possibly the manner to do it’s to take Ceres and sort of puff it out to make it this actually low-density, type of, object, to put it on this low-density framework after which possibly that’s the manner to do it. So, now you’ve acquired this, I don’t know, many thousand kilometre aerogel.
Chelsea Whyte: What do you imply, puff it out?
Andy Rivkin: I don’t know, I don’t know.
Leah Crane: I really feel like if you would like to inject a bunch of aerogel into it, proper? So that it’s poofier and likewise can catch different issues.
Andy Rivkin: Or, possibly you’d build the aerogel into it. Or, embed it in aerogel, or take Ceres and make itself into some aerogel. Because aerogel was simply, you recognize, simply type of a low-density materials, low-density silicone materials as I perceive it. I’m certain that all of my colleagues, if and once they pay attention to this, are going to be like, ‘This is not how it works Andy.’
Leah Crane: This the way it works, we’re making a cosmic fly strip and we’re trapping all of the asteroids on there.
Andy Rivkin: Kind of like right here’s kilometres and kilometres and kilometres of this aerogel materials that can gradual you down. Then you’ve caught your asteroid.
Chelsea Whyte: Yes, like a brake, like a gel brake. It’s such as you put it up in entrance of the practice and the practice slowly goes into the jello tunnel and will get caught.
Andy Rivkin: I’d say precisely, not precisely, precisely. But sure. And then in truth, sure, you’ll simply fill the asteroid belt with that, or fill components of the asteroid belt with that. So, that may be- it’s not one object. It’s not gathering the asteroid belt into one object, however for those who simply crammed the complete space with this aerogel, possibly you will have a ring of this tremendous low density materials.
Chelsea Whyte: Jelly doughnut!
Andy Rivkin: Kind of filling the house between Mars and Jupiter. And then that, in principl,e would possibly have the ability to get you the near-Earth asteroids too. Because a lot of them have aphelia out in the asteroid belt too, so as soon as they retreat from the interior photo voltaic system, exit into the asteroid belt and so they get caught.
Leah Crane: I like doughnut, I like the house doughnut, it’s my favorite factor ever. Would that smash the photo voltaic system?
Andy Rivkin: Well, it is dependent upon your level of view, doesn’t it?
Leah Crane: I assume my query is, how would that smash the photo voltaic system?
Andy Rivkin: It would make it additionally in order that, I suppose, you can not spend spacecraft to the outer photo voltaic system.
Chelsea Whyte: Oh, yeah.
Andy Rivkin: Because you’d now get caught, you recognize? Europa Clipper, or no matter else you need to ship on the market as a substitute, simply it will be a actual problem to get on the market. Now, you would possibly have the ability to restrict that by, I don’t know, possibly you can, as a substitute of having the house doughnut be a doughnut, possibly you can make it a disc and simply restrict it to a aircraft largely. But then, you continue to want sufficient room to gradual stuff down.
Chelsea Whyte: You’d nonetheless want wacky gravity help to stand up or over.
Andy Rivkin: Yes, so some would possibly say that will smash issues, I assume.
Chelsea Whyte: Sure.
Leah Crane: But, that’s simply ruining our stuff, not the photo voltaic system.
Chelsea Whyte: Yeah.
Andy Rivkin: Yes, I feel as a complete, I don’t suppose that- from the level of view of the outer photo voltaic system, the asteroids are whipping round quick sufficient in order that they type of smeared out anyway, so far as Neptune is anxious, proper? They have little or no gravity and so I feel most of the results could be aesthetic ones, you recognize? Here’s this bizarre glow, from the earth.
Chelsea Whyte: I like it.
Andy Rivkin: It would possibly change the warmth steadiness, I assume, of issues in a bizarre manner, I’m unsure. Maybe not, as a result of once more the mass, I don’t know what the mass of aerogel would have to be to make this work, to make this work, examine to the mass of the asteroids, I don’t know for those who now would have to put a enormous quantity of mass on the market. So, whether or not it will simply be like, ‘Oh, it’s the glow of the house doughnut.’ Or, if it will be like, ‘Damn, I hate the space doughnut, I can’t sleep.’ You know? All the migratory birds, all the moths are all the time flying in the direction of the house doughnut, I don’t know. I don’t know.
Leah Crane: Okay, so Andy made it clear that the results for Earth is likely to be fairly tough and I type of thought we weren’t destroying something this episode.
Chelsea Whyte: Yeah, I man, Earth would nonetheless exist, we didn’t actually destroy it, nevertheless it is likely to be fairly disagreeable right here, proper? If the birds and the moths are all simply going nuts. But Kat had one other concept about how we would possibly make an asteroid planet work.
Leah Crane: So, what I’m considering is we take our asteroid world and put it someplace else – probably the liveable zone. I’m considering asteroids have water on them, it looks as if asteroid world would possibly make a fairly good planet if we put it into a place the place liquid water is allowed.
Kat Volk: Maybe, it will be a very small little world.
Leah Crane: Yes, certain.
Kat Volk: I don’t know.
Leah Crane: We may make it a moon even.
Kat Volk: Yeah, possibly we make it Venus’s moon, as a result of Venus wants a moon.
Leah Crane: Yeah, it doesn’t have any.
Kat Volk: So, possibly that will be higher. And, you recognize, there are arguments truly possibly that that will assist make Venus liveable. There are arguments that the indisputable fact that we have a moon is an element of why our local weather is extra secure, as a result of the moon’s gravitational results type of helps stabilise the Earth’s spin axis.
Leah Crane: We may put our asteroid moon in orbit round Venus, that may assist Venus out. The asteroid moon would possibly probably develop into a kind of Titan-y, probably liveable moon, if we’re fortunate. But it looks as if asteroid planet is nice truly. I like asteroid planet.
Kat Volk: And then we wouldn’t have so many close to Earth asteroids attempting to hit the Earth both.
Leah Crane: Right? We wouldn’t have any close to Earth asteroids, as a result of we wouldn’t have any asteroids.
Chelsea Whyte: Two birds, one stone. Yeah.
Leah Crane: I, for one, suppose we’ve drastically improved the photo voltaic system.
Chelsea Whyte: I’d love to hear our listeners’ ideas for what this asteroid planet ought to be named. Tweet at us, I’m @chelswhyte and Leah is @downhereonearth. Or, e mail us at deadplanets@newscientist.com.
Leah Crane: We’d like to thank Kat Volk and Andy Rivkin for becoming a member of us immediately and thanks to you for listening to Dead Planets Society.
Chelsea Whyte: And from our inbox, we had a listener submission from Richard Cameron that’s fairly well timed given our latest moon destruction episode. Richard says he has all the time loved our moon, however he takes a kind of reverse strategy than we did. He requested us, ‘What if we had more moons? How many could be added before we destroyed the Earth? And would they also destroy each other after tearing our world apart?’ These are some nice questions Richard – we may need sufficient to do a Moon 2.0 episode.
Leah Crane: More moon. Bye.
Chelsea Whyte: Bye!
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