attriti0n

So, it may be possible only in theory, but even then timing would be everything... That makes sense to me. I can accept that it isn't workable. I guess I am just not satisfied in hearing things like, "it is a matter of when and not if", coupled with "science can only hope to provide a better warning", and the inevitable "all we can do is prepare our response."... Surely I am not alone in this.

I'd heard of "rods of god" -- was hoping this might be a more productive use (in comparison to, say, war) for the idea.I'm trying to find at least a crude way to gauge the penetration capability of this now. Sure would be a lot easier mathematically if it was just rolled homogenous armor plate to go through! -- Found it :"Neal Stephenson's novel Anathem contains an incident in which an orbiting spaceship attacks a planet with a rod, striking and activating a dormant volcano and causing it to destroy everything in the vicinity downhill." This is obviously how it got into my head -- it's just been a while since I've read it.

Yes, it's the "control" problem. But setting that aside, I am curious primarily whether or not this idea can achieve the requisite penetration first -- then control as the next problem to overcome is, well, yes, important... At any rate, yes, I agree that the energy needed to reach depth with a kinetic penetrator may be too much to ever achieve anything like "reliable" control. And, in the "prevent eruptions" area, it might be a non-starter. What would control look like? It could be relieving a volcano that is about to blow, thats the first and most obvious one that we are thinking of here. It could also just be venting large ones before they can pressurize. Perhaps instead this could be used to relieve the pressure of smaller magma pipes in areas around a larger more dangerous one... Anything else in this vein? Perhaps "control" is as simple as the time and place of your choosing? People could know when to evacuate, where to go, etc.... ("Yes, we caused the eruption, but this time 1/5 of the population of Iceland didn't get killed!") Also, is this idea (space-based kinetic penetrators to relieve or trigger volcanos) an old idea?

Has anyone else considered the purely theoretical idea of using space-based kinetic weapons to attempt a "controlled" release of pressure from any size volcano (rather than just limiting discussion to super-volcano scale)? I really dislike the word "controlled" in this context, but the ultimate goal would be something like that. It would be experimental before being anything like "controlled". Drilling does not seem practical (even in comparison to the idea above, which I freely stipulate to be grandiose) because of depth and stability issues. Nukes do not seem useful for this purpose either as there isn't a great way to focus the energy where you need it, and you would end up (if it even worked at all) with the radioactive aftermath becoming part of a potential ash-cloud. Perhaps one kinetic penetrator from space could not make the depth, but continual accurate hits seem plausible -- at least in my head, right now. Large kinetic penetrators (tungsten or DU) are heavy and certainly difficult to orbit in one piece, but given time, perhaps this could be done in pieces. The US space programs still have a decent heavy-lift capacity. So, your basic telephone-pole sized rod dropped from space and moving at Mach 10-ish -- with some ablative device to keep it from burning up and some means of guidance -- that's got to penetrate fairly well. The effective energy potential of that size device is what, 9-10kt? The energy is certainly heading in the right direction. Not sure if this scale is large enough, so assume it can be scaled up or down as needed. You don't have to penetrate the magma chamber proper, only create a weaker area and let the pressure do the rest. If this can work, the "control" issue is still left to be worked out. Feel free to shoot the idea down, I just wanted to put it out there before I forgot -- you never know, right? I am not married to the idea, so it's fair game for anyone who thinks it is bad -- you won't hurt my feelings -- just shoot it down with science. I'm not sure how the same idea might apply to attempts to relieve tectonic stress, but I might as well mention it now.