Massive Meteor Net?

Premise

Suppose a world has no other means to deal with a potentially devastating meteor impact than creating a net on the planet. Their hope is that the massive net will catch the meteor and slow it down as much as possible to avoid apocalypse. They have ample time to prepare for the collision, but there is no miracle material that is invented nor is there magic. We are only in the near future; perhaps this plan is doomed to fail. Doomed or not, this planet wants to build the best net it can.

While the design of the net may be important, but for simplicity's sake I'm leaving that out of scope. I want to only focus on the material choice. But, just for fun, one promising design is the hexagonal comb structure that has been time-tested by mother nature to be very strong as well as efficient:

Question

Which material(s) would be optimal for a massive meteor net to save a planet that is otherwise incapable of saving itself?

Further Clarifications:

• Budget: Unlimited
• Material must be at least known to science, but not necessarily practical / economical
• Net Size: up to you
• Altitude: I'm not sure if it's fair to consider near Earth orbit on the planet, but it's on the table if need be. The preference is in the atmosphere, but if there is no other way, near Earth orbit is the absolute limit
• Net Quantity: you may construct one massive net, or a multitude of nets to function as a system

• Support rods: let's not dwell too much on this. Assume they are strong and in place to suspend the net. The weakest point will not be the connection between the net and the rods. That should simplify things for answers on the material.

• Lead Time: 50 years

• Era: near-future
• Planet Properties: earth-like
• Meteor Size: 10km
• Meteor Speed: approx. 18 km/s
• Meteor Composition: Unknown (could be solid, could be porous)

• Meteor Entry Vector (Impact Angle): 90°

• Success Metric: The meteor is contained by the net, and no/minimal damage to the planet surface is sustained (a small meteor crater is acceptable)

Points of Interest: Explain why your material is optimal. Here are a few things to consider about the net's material:

• natural or artificial material

• cost

• elasticity

• design (feel free to keep the hexagonal net, or opt for your own)

posted almost 6 years ago

Arash Howaida‭

1 reputation 36 0 0 0