Post B2Va5aeNjsBziPLkbg by RogerBW@discordian.social
(DIR) More posts by RogerBW@discordian.social
(DIR) Post #B2VZxcdwRgJXZzLQKu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-21T11:36:08Z
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Some asteroids aren't rocks. They are rubble heaps. This makes sense when you think about it. These asteroids may have never been a part of a large terrestrial like body with gravity like earth. They are just loosely held together by their own modest mass. For some reason I find this revelation creepy. I suppose I think about trying to land on the surface and just sinking ...
(DIR) Post #B2Va5aeNjsBziPLkbg by RogerBW@discordian.social
2026-01-21T11:37:34Z
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@futurebird You might get some vacuum welding too. So a brittle crust that you could break through by, say, stepping on it.
(DIR) Post #B2Va8viRsFRPuxqQBU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-21T11:38:13Z
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@RogerBW Thanks I hate it!
(DIR) Post #B2VaAsnFi8BDQu1SyG by davidtheeviloverlord@mastodon.social
2026-01-21T11:38:33Z
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@futurebird Quicksand in spaaaaaace!
(DIR) Post #B2VaGnQaZZ7GWtF368 by gdupont@framapiaf.org
2026-01-21T11:39:33Z
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@futurebirdThis is a fact that I haven't seen explored in most sci-fi stories with asteroids. It brings a new adversarial envrionment..
(DIR) Post #B2VaMbSpxyovA73vaC by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-21T11:40:41Z
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@feonixrift @RogerBW Excuse you. Did your mother ever tell you *never* to discuss a lady's modest mass.😡 🤣
(DIR) Post #B2VaUXZaJkYVPW0GPI by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-21T11:42:07Z
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@AlexanderVI @RogerBW I guess very slowly? But gravity is a weak force and not the main event going on in this situation I think?
(DIR) Post #B2Vb2uYBOWdYWGjjZw by catsalad@infosec.exchange
2026-01-21T11:48:19Z
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@futurebird *Lands on asteroid* SLORP!
(DIR) Post #B2VbBfRYvkyyGyoc9A by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-21T11:49:55Z
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@AlexanderVI @RogerBW When you live on the surface of a massive planet it's hard to think of gravity as a "weak force."
(DIR) Post #B2VcnZdn3N87EaAq9I by Colman@mastodon.ie
2026-01-21T12:07:56Z
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@futurebird "sinking" isn't the right word. "Penetrating" possibly: you're a projectile shooting into the asteroid, disrupting it.
(DIR) Post #B2VcoXgLoypTRtpjTE by naturepoker@genomic.social
2026-01-21T12:07:58Z
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@futurebird oh I'd hate to think of super high speed buckshot shells zipping around out there...
(DIR) Post #B2ViquRgl1feLwUGbw by theDuesentrieb@social.linux.pizza
2026-01-21T13:15:44Z
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@futurebird this might be very beneficial for some sci-fi level asteroid mining, you don't have to do actual drilling but "just" turn the whole thing inside out somehow™ until you can scoop up the good parts
(DIR) Post #B2VlEVad1RBa7e37WS by Tarnport@mastodon.green
2026-01-21T13:42:26Z
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@futurebird best thread of the day.
(DIR) Post #B2VqCfraM1CVB0vRWy by michael_w_busch@mastodon.online
2026-01-21T14:37:58Z
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@futurebird When the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected samples from the asteroid Bennu; the sample collection arm on the spacecraft sank about half a meter down before automatic lift-off was triggered: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-51928-4_83 So. Yeah.
(DIR) Post #B2VqKhgTT6DR8lYbLs by SeanPLynch@mastodon.social
2026-01-21T14:39:33Z
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@futurebird @AlexanderVI @RogerBW While it's effects reach to infinity, it is the weakest of the known forces by a long shot!
(DIR) Post #B2VuLW5gSQExI3zYJM by michael_w_busch@mastodon.online
2026-01-21T14:41:18Z
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@theDuesentrieb @futurebird Quite a while ago now; I was involved with a NASA mission plan called the Asteroid Redirect Mission, which would have demonstrated gravity tractor asteroid deflection as well as space resource utilization.The plan was to pick up either an entire small asteroid or a boulder from a larger asteroid. To deal with even what looked like a single block potentially being only loosely held together, it would have been enclosed in a large bag to contain all the shed bits.
(DIR) Post #B2Vubge2z76Aenm8zA by SeanPLynch@mastodon.social
2026-01-21T14:38:04Z
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@AlexanderVI @futurebird @RogerBW Being bags of mostly water, we're probably less dense than many of the chunks of rock that make up asteroids.
(DIR) Post #B2VubiEx3ODFbY389A by futurebird@sauropods.win
2026-01-21T15:27:29Z
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@SeanPLynch @AlexanderVI @RogerBW IDKI have encountered some people with *remarkable* densities, though less often since I quit twitter. Maybe the extreme densities are why it’s so hard for some people to leave such places.
(DIR) Post #B2W4wSC0uaMBSQCiv2 by oneloop@mastodon.xyz
2026-01-21T17:23:03Z
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@futurebird What about comets? Same argument would apply, no?I've always had the mental model that these things are rocks, and always found it incomprehensible that a comet's tail is hundreds of kms in length. But if they're rubble heaps, maybe not so surprising.
(DIR) Post #B2W5ls4oR4qmVHLzIe by Wharrrrrrgarbl@an.errant.cloud
2026-01-21T17:32:21Z
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@futurebird on the plus side, the escape velocity should be low so even if you get stuck you can probably throw the rest of the asteroid apart, right?
(DIR) Post #B2W7LHoKqeX4PG67BA by JeffGrigg@mastodon.social
2026-01-21T17:50:02Z
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@futurebird @SeanPLynch @AlexanderVI @RogerBW Yea; but that's just the hardened fat in their heads.😁
(DIR) Post #B2WEx1INOrcNrs5a0O by lufthans@mastodon.social
2026-01-21T19:15:20Z
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@futurebird just listened to a rather old episode of the Planetary Society's podcast where they discussed less solid bodies in space and mentioned the Osiris Rex mission to BennuMade me think of frozen quick sand in zero G and the scene Mel Brooks needs to write :)