New Horizons

18 Jul 2015 • what-if.xkcd.com

Unfortunately, in a hypervelocity impact, materials like metal aren’t nearly strong enough to hold together. Instead of crumpling, they splash. New Horizons and your car’s crumple zone would splash as bits of them passed through each other, and the resulting spray of metal would do the same to the rest of your car.

Dare I ask what might become of bone and skin in a “hypervelocity” impact?

Here’s the good news: NASA will have to pay for your car. Under the Convention on the International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Object, NASA and the US government would clearly be on the hook for the damage. And, since you wouldn’t be considered at fault in the accident, in most states insurance companies would be legally prohibited from raising your premiums.

So great, if you aren’t in your car at the time you’re all set…

The situation would be slightly complicated by the fact that this would be a nuclear accident. New Horizons flies too far from the Sun to use solar panels, so it’s powered by the heat from a bunch of lumps of plutonium-238. The container holding the plutonium is sturdy, since it’s designed to survive atmospheric reentry (and has done so). However, it’s not designed to survive entry into a Chevy. The RTG and the plutonium inside it would be splattered across the landscape. The US government will not only have to replace your car, it will probably have to replace much of your neighborhood.

…unless it’s parked in your garage, driveway, or even your neighborhood! Then all bets are off.

I just love this blog.