Posted on 11/17/2006 5:15:39 AM PST by Esther Ruth
Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth
David Adam Friday November 17, 2006
It is the stuff of nightmares and, until now, Hollywood thrillers. A huge asteroid is on a catastrophic collision course with Earth and mankind is poised to go the way of the dinosaurs. To save the day, Nasa now plans to go where only Bruce Willis has gone before. The US space agency is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling through space at more than 30,000 mph. It wants to know whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect such a doomsday object when it is eventually identified. The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036.
Chris McKay of the Nasa Johnson Space Centre in Houston told the website Space.com: "There's a lot of public resonance with the notion that Nasa ought to be doing something about killer asteroids ... to be able to send serious equipment to an asteroid.
"The public wants us to have mastered the problem of dealing with asteroids. So being able to have astronauts go out there and sort of poke one with a stick would be scientifically valuable as well as demonstrate human capabilities."
A 1bn tonne asteroid just 1km across striking the Earth at a 45 degree angle could generate the equivalent of a 50,000 megatonne thermonuclear explosion. Attempting to break it up with an atomic warhead might only generate thousands of smaller objects on a similar course, which could have time to reform.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Is your ex-husband experienced in high-speed asteroid deflection? The reason I ask is because it could be a dangerous mission. He could go missing in deep outer space never to be seen again....or even make the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind.
~ Blue Jays ~
Apophis? Call in Jack O'Neill.
I volunteer and no I am not lindy's ex husband.
I think it would be cool to sit on top of a controlled explosion, be hurled into the sky at several G's to be thrust at 17,000 miles per hour through the universe, to land on a piece of rock coming at us at 30,000 miles an hour, to dig hundreds of feet through jagged iron and rock, to plant a nuclear charge that will rip the asteroid to shreds and prevent it from hitting our planet.
So that the Democrats can give it over to the UN to administer.
Yeah, only this time, they should make the guy below stay behind and blow hisself up. Of course, a liberal ahole would never sacrifice himself to save mankind.
That would have been a fun movie if Affleck hadn't been in it (and hadn't gotten the girl, Liv Tyler).
I can't wait for the sudden arrival of "space environmentalists" who will get upset at human beings upsetting the natural order of things out in space akin to dumping toxic chemicals into a river, and blowing asteroids into pieces as target practice akin to something like deer hunting.
Ya'but 'low mass killer asteroids.' These high mass killer asteroids are deja vue all over again. Like glow-ball warning for the gullah-bull.
Either we are equal or we are not. Good people should be armed where they will, with wits and guns. NRA KMA
What the heck......I'll go.
Cute turtle, by the way!
We need a Terminator to meet the Destroyer!
Apophis the Destroyer- coming soon to a planet near you!
(One bet - the agencies monitoring this thing or theres of similar threat capability will be very nonchalant and dismissive of its threat until the obvious is staring us in the face)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/space/article/0,14493,1660485,00.html
Bush's fault.
Why should the USA save the rest of the world?
Wouldn't you much rather send 'Arnuld'?
We have a better chance if an astronaut "sort of poke one with a stick, but not with a "50,000 megatonne thermonuclear explosion"
I'll be 91 in 2036, good Lord willing, I'll do it!
Calling Harry Stamper!
Unnecessary! All we need is for Chuck Norris to divert it with one angry glance. Or give it a roundhouse kick back out into space.
Net result is that if we know long enough in advance, a couple well placed nukes could nudge the orbit.
But we can't be blindsided by something and only have a weeks time to work on it.
te problem is that in the '70's we didn'y know much about the structure of asteroids. A nuke may nudge it, or it may shatter it so we get carpet bombed by dozens of smaller asteroids. The current thinking is that some, possibly many, asteroids may be more like giant gravel piles losely held together by gravity than solid, hard objects. You blow them up and gravity just re-condenses them. It's better to find a gentle way of steering them than hitting them with a hammer. Sending astronauts there is a good first step in learning more about these objects and how we can manipulate their course.
You get the gold star for the day...
John Kerry voted for the asteroid, before he voted against it.
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