Hehe neato...

Konohas Perverted Hermit

<div class="IPBDescription">Not really...</div>Read this...

<a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/03022009/news/worldnews/small_asteroid_narrowly_misses_earth_157694.htm" target="_blank">http://www.nypost.com/seven/03022009/news/...arth_157694.htm</a>

*Mr. Burn's hands*

lolfighter

If that thing comes down anywhere inhabited next time, it could cause a major catastrophe. Other than that, nothing much.

CommunistWithAGun

If only it was 100 times larger and a smidgen more accurate.

Cronos

<!--quoteo(post=1701878:date=Mar 4 2009, 01:24 PM:name=lolfighter)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Mar 4 2009, 01:24 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1701878"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If that thing comes down anywhere inhabited next time, it could cause a major catastrophe. Other than that, nothing much.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Sadly it will probably take something like that to get people and governments to actually take asteroid threats with any serious amount of credulity.

Until then? Blissful Ignorance as Usual!

lolfighter

I don't know what you would have us do. Besides, this one is not a threat. Sure, if you're right where it hits, sucks to be you. But on a global scale, an asteroid this small is unimportant. Things like the winter 2004 tsunami are far more dangerous.

TychoCelchuuu

Right, spending untold billions of dollars so that we can deal with a one in a zillion chance of an asteroid hitting something we care about seems like putting our priorities a little lopsided when we consider all the humanitarian problems that can be dealt with much more efficiently and which, unlike the asteroid thing, are actually happening right now.

Kassinger

It's so unlikely that it's nothing to worry about. Especially when we can calculate if an object will hit us decades before impact, together with how unlikely it is in the first place. How often has humanity suffered asteroid collisons anyway?

Cronos

<!--quoteo(post=1701904:date=Mar 5 2009, 12:18 AM:name=lolfighter)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Mar 5 2009, 12:18 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1701904"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't know what you would have us do. Besides, this one is not a threat. Sure, if you're right where it hits, sucks to be you. But on a global scale, an asteroid this small is unimportant. Things like the winter 2004 tsunami are far more dangerous.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


<!--quoteo(post=1701913:date=Mar 5 2009, 01:44 AM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TychoCelchuuu @ Mar 5 2009, 01:44 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1701913"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Right, spending untold billions of dollars so that we can deal with a one in a zillion chance of an asteroid hitting something we care about seems like putting our priorities a little lopsided when we consider all the humanitarian problems that can be dealt with much more efficiently and which, unlike the asteroid thing, are actually happening right now.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I never advocated spending billions of dollars to blow up asteroids armageddon style.

The 2004 Tsunami prompted a response that advocated an early warning system. For asteroids, we dont even have that. Current funding is in the slim millions for asteroid searches of the sky and it will take till 2028 even with proper funding to identify even 90% of asteroids over 140 meters in diameter.

At the very least we need to identify which asteroids are likely to be threats and which arent. Early detection brings the cost of a preventative mission, should a threat be detected, down significantly over a last ditch effort.

<!--quoteo(post=1701917:date=Mar 5 2009, 02:05 AM:name=Kassinger)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kassinger @ Mar 5 2009, 02:05 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1701917"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It's so unlikely that it's nothing to worry about. Especially when we can calculate if an object will hit us decades before impact, together with how unlikely it is in the first place. How often has humanity suffered asteroid collisons anyway?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event" target="_blank">Well, there was Tunguska in 1908</a>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Mediterranean_event" target="_blank">Then there was the 2002 East Mediterranean Event</a>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_TC3" target="_blank">Then there was that 2008 Sudan event</a>

Bear in mind that these are just the ones we know about, there could easily have be more we dont know about since sattelite monitoring of Earth has only been around for 40 or 50 years.

Nobody can truly say that asteroids do not pose a threat in our lifetime or that the chances of an impact are so miniscule as to be insignificant because <i>we do not know for a fact</i> how many are out there, what their orbits are and which ones do and do not pose us a threat.

The choice is to spend a few hundred million dollars (not billions, mind you) over the next 10 - 20 years to identify potential threats and put some research towards prevention just in case OR to blunder on in blissful ignorance until a disaster happens and we kick ourselves for not acting sooner.

I'd prefer to <b>know</b> there is no threat then <b>assume</b> there is none.

Quaunaut

<!--quoteo(post=1701920:date=Mar 4 2009, 07:39 AM:name=Cronos)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cronos @ Mar 4 2009, 07:39 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1701920"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I never advocated spending billions of dollars to blow up asteroids armageddon style.

The 2004 Tsunami prompted a response that advocated an early warning system. For asteroids, we dont even have that. Current funding is in the slim millions for asteroid searches of the sky and it will take till 2028 even with proper funding to identify even 90% of asteroids over 140 meters in diameter.

At the very least we need to identify which asteroids are likely to be threats and which arent. Early detection brings the cost of a preventative mission, should a threat be detected, down significantly over a last ditch effort.
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event" target="_blank">Well, there was Tunguska in 1908</a>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Mediterranean_event" target="_blank">Then there was the 2002 East Mediterranean Event</a>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_TC3" target="_blank">Then there was that 2008 Sudan event</a>

Bear in mind that these are just the ones we know about, there could easily have be more we dont know about since sattelite monitoring of Earth has only been around for 40 or 50 years.

Nobody can truly say that asteroids do not pose a threat in our lifetime or that the chances of an impact are so miniscule as to be insignificant because <i>we do not know for a fact</i> how many are out there, what their orbits are and which ones do and do not pose us a threat.

The choice is to spend a few hundred million dollars (not billions, mind you) over the next 10 - 20 years to identify potential threats and put some research towards prevention just in case OR to blunder on in blissful ignorance until a disaster happens and we kick ourselves for not acting sooner.

I'd prefer to <b>know</b> there is no threat then <b>assume</b> there is none.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


I don't know where you're getting the information, but Tyson's been talking about a lot of asteroids on a path with us. Also, the 2004 tsunami didn't cause us to look into early warning systems, we've had those for decades. It just meant that we started putting them next to 3rd world countries too, instead of just 1st world ones.

Konohas Perverted Hermit

Don't forget about the Dinosaurs <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />

lolfighter

If an asteroid of that size heads our way, all we can do is bunker down and hope that enough of us survive to repopulate.

Konohas Perverted Hermit

<!--quoteo(post=1702050:date=Mar 5 2009, 04:20 PM:name=lolfighter)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Mar 5 2009, 04:20 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1702050"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If an asteroid of that size heads our way, all we can do is bunker down and hope that enough of us survive to repopulate.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

"I'm afraid there is going to be no 'Forced' mating..."

Quaunaut

<!--quoteo(post=1702050:date=Mar 5 2009, 02:20 PM:name=lolfighter)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Mar 5 2009, 02:20 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1702050"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If an asteroid of that size heads our way, all we can do is bunker down and hope that enough of us survive to repopulate.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Not really. Knocking these things off course isn't necessarily the hardest thing to do ever. You've just gotta do it right. We can't stop it, but we can deflect it pretty surely.

Kassinger

I'm not going to argue against asteroids possibly being a threat for someone someplace at sometime, but it's more rational for me as an individual to worry about something like anyone I know being killed by lightning strike.

lolfighter

<!--quoteo(post=1702081:date=Mar 6 2009, 08:15 AM:name=Quaunaut)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Quaunaut @ Mar 6 2009, 08:15 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1702081"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Not really. Knocking these things off course isn't necessarily the hardest thing to do ever. You've just gotta do it right. We can't stop it, but we can deflect it pretty surely.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Really? Because I don't know how we'd do that. You must have heard of something that I haven't, so please enlighten me.

locallyunscene

<!--quoteo(post=1702095:date=Mar 6 2009, 07:40 AM:name=lolfighter)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Mar 6 2009, 07:40 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1702095"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Really? Because I don't know how we'd do that. You must have heard of something that I haven't, so please enlighten me.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
There are a couple of theories(none tried yet obviously). Most of them revolve around catching things far before 1 week out and slowly changing their trajectory. One of the better ways I've heard is painting one side of the asteroid white with some type of "paint bomb. Because the distances are literally astronomical the slight change in momentum from more photons bouncing off one side can take a direct hit asteroid to a far miss.

lolfighter

I dunno. The asteroid believed to have caused the extinction event 65 million years ago has been estimated at 10 kilometres in diameter. That's a surface area of 314 km². There's some wiggle room due to the irregular shape of small asteroids like that, but that's a whole lotta paint right there.

puzl

Size and surface area are not so critical. It's about mass, momentum and how durable they are on atmospheric entry.

An asteroid detection system is not going to be that expensive, we just have to apply existing technology in a different way. Furthermore, the tech needed to track and monitor satellites and space debris in order to manage the clarke belt and low earth orbits will be essential and will work in tandem with asteroid tracking. Right now we build our satellites to look at huge things really far away, but with some changes to optics we can just as easily use them to find small things close by. We know where the asteroid belt is, we just need to start scanning it at a low priority as we orbit the sun and build up a detailed model of large asteroids over time.

lolfighter

I don't think the asteroid belt is the big problem. It's a belt of asteroids. They're in a stable solar orbit if I'm not mistaken. One that doesn't intersect with Earth's. It's the roaming asteroids that are dangerous, and they could be anywhere.