'Lunar Ark' Proposed In Case Of Deadly Impact On Earth

National Geographic ^ | 8-14-2007 | Kevin Holden Platt

[Bender2]

It ain't if, campers... It is when!

And the sooner we realize that, the sooner we get this done.

[dragnet2]

And what happens when our own sun eventually vaporizes the entire solar system?

[SolidWood]

I assume your post is Kubricks original script, where Strangelove was called Von Klutz?

[BigBlueJon]

"How many have wondered if maybe we haven't already done this once in the ancient past?" Well, Master Chief believes.

[Knute]

Humans have pretty much perfected the process to destroy civilization without asteroids. It’s called liberalism and Islam.

Those and moral relativism, fairness, the entitlement mentality, "political correctness", whatever THAT oxymoron is supposed to mean... and other nuggets of supposed wisdom that are now accepted by large numbers in our culture!

[vigilante2]

Have they wondered what would happen if the moon were hit by a killer asteroid instead?

[toddlintown]

I thought Stargate Command had already set-up the Alpha Site.

[ari-freedom]

[toddlintown]

I’ll have to steal this one.

[ari-freedom]

yes we have to actually have a culture before it can be destroyed. The culture of paris hilton and britney isn’t really worth saving. Along with perhaps 90% of the internet.

[tanknetter]

And even if NASA eventually develops a nuclear-tipped, anti-asteroid launch vehicle, rocketing hydrogen bombs into space "is prohibited by the Outer Space Treaty of 1967," ISU's Burke said.
That UN-brokered treaty prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons in Earth orbit, in outer space, or on any other celestial body.
Yet as astronomers across the globe piece together predictions on potential asteroids of mass destruction, UN members could vote to amend the space treaty to prepare a nuclear response to such threats.

Yeah, right. What a f***ing maroon. If there was ever a case of "do what's right, apologize after", ignoring some idiotic treaty to save humanity from extinction via asteroid-impact is it.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

We have done it before, but we put the stuff down beneath us rather than "above" us ...

[hinckley buzzard]

And even if NASA eventually develops a nuclear-tipped, anti-asteroid launch vehicle, rocketing hydrogen bombs into space "is prohibited by the Outer Space Treaty of 1967," ISU's Burke said.

Proof positive that these guys are pulling everyone's leg and are not serious in the slightest degree.

[TMSuchman]

I must weigh in on this,

1] If we saw something like this coming down the pike at us, the moon would not be far enough away, [I would recommend Mars as the closest that we could get to the event with out lossing everything that we have built or saved.

2] We as humans need to strech out and see what is over the next hill, around the corner [so to say]. We need to extend out and seed to cosmos with ourselves and our family lines.

the sun is not expected to burn out for another 4-5 Billion years or so, so this gives us a little time to get things going, [counting on the way congress gets things done!]

[william clark]

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Carter goes with me to the alpha site.

[KevinDavis]

I prefer an space ark that would leave this system imho...

[wastedyears]

[B-Chan]

They are correct. We should have a backup of our civilization “just in case”. Always have an offsite backup of important data...

As for the mysterious past, I have a hunch that the world before history was quite different than we might imagine. Jewish scripture, commentary, and legend are rife with examples of what we might call “science fiction” today: space giants, power crystals, mysterious beings of light, stairways to Heaven, and many more. The story of Noah’s Ark, for example has some very, very odd things in it. Nobody knows what “gopher wood” (the mysterious substance used to build the Ark) really was, after all. Maybe Noah was able to get all those animals on the Ark because the Ark was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside — like the Stable of Aslan in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series...

[DuncanWaring]

It seems to me it would be far more practical to build a dozen or so sites in the style of Cheyenne Mountain, scattered around the world, located away from faults and shorelines.

Each would be powered by its own nuclear reactor, with everything that would be in these proposed "arks".

This would be probably two orders-of-magnitude cheaper, and you could move the designated "survivors" in with a few hours notice.

And when everything settled out, odds are there would at least be an atmosphere, which the moon wouldn't have.