Artificial Meteor Showers
by Dave Caulkins
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Here is an idea for a REALLY large-scale fireworks display, one
which fits in with current politics: use to-be-destroyed ballistic
missiles to produce firework-type displays in the form of
artificial meteor (AM) showers.
How would it work?
Russian ICBMs like the SS-18 have throw weights (amount of payload
they can deliver on target) of about 7,000 Kg. US ICBMs have
smaller throw weights of approximately 3,500 Kg.
The average 'shooting star' type meteor with the same brightness
as the brightest stars weighs about 1 gram when it starts to enter
the atmosphere.
So as a first cut let's make our artificial meteors (AMs) have
masses of 0.1 Kg, which would produce very spectacular fireballs
as they burn up in the atmosphere. 3,500/0.1 = 35,000 individual
AMs, each one MUCH brighter than the average shooting star, and
all appearing in a period of tens of seconds over a place whose
location can be selected to within better than 1 kilometer.
Even with the smaller throw weights of shorter-range, less capable
ballistic missiles the number of AMs could be impressively large.
We probably don't want them in a cluster the size of an ICBM
reentry vehicle, so we would want the missile payload to be
something like a 'shell' with a bursting charge set off after the
missile left the atmosphere, and calculated to separate the AMs
into a cloud 1 or 2 kilometers in diameter on reentry.
Like color? Make the individual AMs out of the usual
color-generating elements: copper (blue), strontium (red), barium
(green), iron (yellow), etc. Note that these AMs are not your
usual pyrotechnic stars; any mass entering the atmosphere at a
velocity of about 10 kilometers/second has potential energy of
about 6 x 10^4 joules/gram; the decomposition of TNT releases
energy of about 4 x 10^3 joules/gram. No chemical reactions
needed; atmospheric friction will provide all necessary energy.
The AMs would need to have special shapes. Spheres are not a good
idea, especially if high melting point materials like iron are
used; there have been cases of meteors in the few-gram range
making it all the way to the ground. The ideal shape would be one
which stayed incandescent for as long as possible, but was
guaranteed to be down to a fraction of a gram at a safe altitude
of 15 kilometers or so.
AM shape and construction may need to be special to maintain the
ablation temperature in a good range for color production.
Some kind of lattice sounds good. It might also be interesting to
make the AMs with aerodynamically active shapes that would perform
various maneuvers as they fell.
Like noise? Let larger mass AMs descend below 40 kilometers and
you get a sonic boom. I'm not sure this is a good idea; hard to
make sure that these large AMs don't make it to the ground, and
the neighbors might complain.
This scheme fits the current international political climate
rather well. Both we and the Russians have agreed to destroy lots
of ballistic missiles of various types. What better way to verify
destruction than this, putting on beautiful displays for the
citizens who paid for the missiles.
Feeling paranoid? Let us make and install the AM payloads in the
Russian missiles, and let them do the same for ours.
AMs could even be a money-making proposition. I would imagine
that the producers of films, music videos, rock concerts, and
national holiday displays would pay a lot for special effects on
this large a scale.
There are many thousands of missiles good for AM use in the world;
we should be able to provide lots of events with AM displays for
many years.
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