Hey #astronomy #space #rocketscience folks:
Is there a word to describe atmospheric aero-braking with the intent to disintegrate the object in question?
Like the theories about intentionally destroying ice asteroids in Mars' atmosphere for terraforming.
I feel like "aero-braking" has the connotation of wanting to keep the object in one piece.
Is there a term for intentional aero-disintegration?
@LouisIngenthron is there a need for atmospheric ablation ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliberate_crash_landings_on_extraterrestrial_bodies
@spaceflight Not for artificial craft, generally, no.
The use case in question was to ablate a natural body (i.e. an ice asteroid) through a planet's atmosphere to modify its environmental conditions, i.e. as a step in terraformation.
@spaceflight Yes, introducing water vapor and heat to the atmosphere is the point.
Also, the asteroids could be of other types of ice than water, such as methane or dry ice (CO2).
@LouisIngenthron Atmospheric ablation in meteorites https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0191278X80900372 Stellar ablation of planetary atmospheres
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2005RG000194
@LouisIngenthron sure, but if the terraforming includes warming 🌡️, the water would anyway go to the atmosphere ? (And if not, come down as snow ?)