[meteorite-list] NASA Considers Manned Asteroid Mission

[Chris Peterson]

Firing a piton doesn't need to push YOU in the opposite direction, it just 
has to push SOMETHING. Momentum needs to be conserved, and there are many 
tools made that manage that without transferring momentum to the operator. 
Some guns, for example, especially some military ones. But the master in 
this area is NASA, with many of their space-based servicing tools.

Making a reactionless (from the operator's standpoint) piton setter sounds 
pretty easy. But you'd probably have a gas exhaust vent on its back (or even 
a dummy mass port), so you'd need to be careful where you stood when using 
it!

Chris
________________________________
Chris L Peterson
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu>
To: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
Cc: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 7:05 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA Considers Manned Asteroid Mission


> Hi Sterling:
>
> Do not mean to rock your boat, but how do you fire the piton? "For every
> action there is an equal and opposite reaction" (read that somewhere).
> Firing the piton would send you off into space, even if you were in
> "orbit" around the object.