why do we wait for meteor showers when we could make our own?

[tenbyfifty]

Everybody on earth who can afford it chucks in the equivalent of a few quid -

this should raise a few billion - alternatively, divert the money from the US defence budget for

about 12 minutes should raise the same amount.

then we launch the space shuttle with a payload of nothing but pebble-dash and get astronauts

to shovel it out over designated locations -

Voila!!! Instant meteor shower.

A proper one too. Not this one every minute (yeah, right!!) nonsense -

meteor dribble would be a better description of the Perseids and I was at a dark site.

[jonifive]

You are not right are you?

JV

[tenbyfifty]

You are not right are you?

JV

Hey, people spend billions every year on their pet bugs, reptiles and rodents, so why not?

[barkis]

You are not right are you?

JV

Hey, people spend billions every year on their pet bugs, reptiles and rodents, so why not?

oooOOOOOOO! I bet a threepenny bit Kain jumps in here.

[John]

I remember reading somewhere about a scientist who basically did just that - only he used ball bearings and sent them up into the upper atmosphere in a rocket.

Not sure what he was trying to prove or whether the experiment worked or not .... perhaps someone else can fill me / us in on that :?

John

[The Warthog]

I remember reading somewhere about a scientist who basically did just that - only he used ball bearings and sent them up into the upper atmosphere in a rocket.

Not sure what he was trying to prove or whether the experiment worked or not .... perhaps someone else can fill me / us in on that :?

John

This has been considered as a method of carpet-bombing battlefields. Ball-bearings dropped from low earth orbit wouldn't burn up, but they would be going fast enough to kill, and to penetrate armour.

[nitram100]

It would end up being cloudy

[tenbyfifty]

It would end up being cloudy

:(

[Kain]

I don't think people will want pebbles raining down on them, remember metoers in showers salt grain size etc, I would say pebbles would cause a problem - plus how do you plan making them move 30 miles per second?

Nope, I will stick to wasting my cash on 'pet bugs'

Ron, your right mate

Kain

[tenbyfifty]

plus how do you plan making them move 30 miles per second?

obviously you'd attach tiny little rockets to every pebble and a Pith helmet should give adequate protection

in the event of being struck.

[Kain]

Someone has been sniffing the fabric softener again I'd wager.

Kain

[Jamie]

Thoundth to me like thomeone ith taking the pith.......

[Vega]

I think very small pebbles we be more than enough to do the trick. Isn't the average Perseid merely a little larger than a speck of dust ?

Don't matter about weather... just release them as soon as the next Azores High comes up to hang out with the UK. . We could chuck in a couple pebbles (say 1" diameter) for a few bright-uns. And a football sized rock (at an accute angle for safety) for the odd fireball...... this could be great

Now... how do we convince 6 billion people to spare a quid ?

Vega

Oooh I'm a Neutron star..... growing up in the universe

[mikkey99]

If we could angle them so they only passed through the upper atmosphere we could use some real monsters

mike

[tenbyfifty]

If we could angle them so they only passed through the upper atmosphere we could use some real monsters

mike

Indeed. This could be the long sort after solution to the growing mountain of broken household appliances.

[jonifive]

Indeed. This could be the long sort after solution to the growing mountain of broken household appliances.

What a fantastic idea, I have a fridge that would make a superb meteor, and it would be much higher than the ozone layer to affect it!

JV

[Akyra]

Dont pebbles explode when they get too hot? :insects1:

[tenbyfifty]

Dont pebbles explode when they get too hot? :insects1:

Even better. Each pebble would explode into a shower of smaller particles thus increasing the visual impact of the display and removing the need to dig out Great GrandPa's Pith helmet.

[Astroman]

Let me guess, TBF; Cloudy again? Simply towing particles of whatever size up and dropping them wouldn't do it. They'd never move fast enough due to drag. Terminal velocity of an aerodynamic sphere through air is only a few hundred miles per hour-way less than the 20,000 mph needed to ionize the air in front of the object enough to make it glow.

Still, I like the visual of a fridge flying through the rarified air...

[Jamie]

Oh look that bright one was a Hotpoint.

And that was an Ariston....

[mikkey99]

Let me guess, TBF; Cloudy again? Simply towing particles of whatever size up and dropping them wouldn't do it. They'd never move fast enough due to drag. Terminal velocity of an aerodynamic sphere through air is only a few hundred miles per hour-way less than the 20,000 mph needed to ionize the air in front of the object enough to make it glow.

Still, I like the visual of a fridge flying through the rarified air...

Looks like we`ll have to slingshot them round the sun to let gravity accelerate them,

get the trajectory right and we`ll meet them in a few months on the other side

mike

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

If we're clubbing together for our own space program I think rather than sending up builders sand and aggregate we might try a telescope or perhaps some observers? While we're dreaming I'd like a Koenigsegg sportscar as well.

[tenbyfifty]

Let me guess, TBF; Cloudy again? Simply towing particles of whatever size up and dropping them wouldn't do it. They'd never move fast enough due to drag. Terminal velocity of an aerodynamic sphere through air is only a few hundred miles per hour-way less than the 20,000 mph needed to ionize the air in front of the object enough to make it glow.

Still, I like the visual of a fridge flying through the rarified air...

there's is a simple, if maybe expensive solution, to the speed problem. Send your space vehicle a few 100k miles

form earth - turn her around and start accelerating - release your cargo of particles when at the required velocity -

20,000 mph shouldn't be a problem - and send the rocket off harmlessly into outer space on a different trajectory.

when an eccecentric Russian billionaire gets the same idea and decides to blow a few 100 mill on this crazy stunt,

just remember where you heard it first... or maybe second... ok, just remember where you were reminded of it last.

[daz]

TBF - You don't sleep much do you????

[The Warthog]

Let me guess, TBF; Cloudy again? Simply towing particles of whatever size up and dropping them wouldn't do it. They'd never move fast enough due to drag. Terminal velocity of an aerodynamic sphere through air is only a few hundred miles per hour-way less than the 20,000 mph needed to ionize the air in front of the object enough to make it glow.

Still, I like the visual of a fridge flying through the rarified air...

Well, yeah, but falling satellites, and the space shuttle, glow on reentry, so shurely we could just get our balls in orbit and then deorbit them, in a targeted fashion?