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 I’ve seen erosion used in the context of orbital debris, but I don’t know of any missions where something was disintegrated with the purpose of modify the atmosphere so you might need a whole new word or phrase.
@anson Since "erosion" has the connotation of taking a long time, maybe "ablation" would be better. "An aero-ablation maneuver".
@LouisIngenthron yeah I think ablation is perfect