Kinetic energy missiles can be targeted whereas asteroids can be unstable and can break up entering the atmosphere.
That would be dependent on composition of the impactor and means of directed impact. By choosing an iron meteor and using attached rocket systems you create a megaton weapon out of space debris and do not need to launch or be observed....the ultimate secret surprise bye bye bomb.
That's not true. Have you heard of Rods from God? Just a chunk of metal actually and more powerful than nuclear weapons without any radiation. You can actually change them to take out a city block or a city the size of NYC. Unfortunately since they are made of rare materials they cost about 200 million a shot. However, they could hit any target on Earth in 15 minutes or less since they are simply dropped from orbit.
Interesting thought, but NOTHING is simply "dropped from orbit." Anything in orbit is going at least 17,000 mph, & at that speed can't be simply "dropped" because it's still traveling at 5 mps around the Earth. Plus, as it descends, it hits the atmosphere & burns up unless it is somehow protected. Hitting targets from orbit can be VERY complicated.
Tungsten rods dont burn up (not enough to matter, at least). They also have a high enough terminal velocity that they continue to accelerate even through atmo all the way until impact. Guidance would be required for targetted use, but that technology has existed for decades.
Oh, we have used Ion Propulsion for decades, and the future Mars missions are expected to use it. But there are many other things that automatically kick in. For one, the distance. The closest that is likely to support life is Ross 128 b. It only has a mass around 38% more than that of Earth, so humans could survive on the surface (if very uncomfortably). And it is only 11 light years away. Now assume that we could somehow create a craft that could travel at 0.99% the speed of light. And that it could somehow magically start and stop at that speed, without the requirement to speed up to reach it, then slow down on the other side. Well, that travel time would take just over 11 years for those on the vessel. But for those on Earth tracking their progress, over 1,100 years will have passed thanks to time dilation. http://www.emc2-explained.info/Dilation-Calc/#.XQFRf3dFwRp No, interstellar travel will likely never be possible. Short of one-way generation ships or high speed systems yet to be developed in which we will never know what happened to them because of time dilation.
Space is like a circular shooting range where projectiles of all sizes are constantly coming at you from all directions.
Maybe I'm being pedantic, but, when don't I travel through space? Hmmm, show me time space and gravitas and expanses effect on time - now that's the money shot.
All weapons should be banned from space. Let's keep all our primitive, warlike behaviors restricted to the Earth's surface & not export it anywhere else.
