Posted on 10/26/2010 7:37:06 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
In separate 10-page letters to the House Committee on Science and Technology and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, or OSTP, outlines plans for "(A) protecting the United States from a near-Earth object that is expected to collide with Earth; and (B) implementing a deflection campaign, in consultation with international bodies, should one be necessary."
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While Holdren indicates that no large asteroid or comet presents an immediate hazard to our planet, the fact that devastating impacts have occurred on Earth in the distant past is enough to warrant safety precautions for the future...
Asteroids are rocky bodies found within the inner solar system, originating in an area known as the asteroid belt, located between the planets Mars and Jupiter.
If a large asteroid were to strike Earth, it could cause a global climate change, which many scientists believe is what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago -- not a good prospect for life on Earth in the present day if a similar event occurred.
NASA's Near Earth Object program, or NEO, looks for and monitors asteroids that are at least a kilometer in diameter... After 12 years of cosmic hunting, NASA search teams have determined that 149 NEOs larger than a kilometer in size are in orbits that might pose a problem for Earth, but none is considered an impact threat in the next 100 years...
(Excerpt) Read more at aolnews.com ...
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Yes, the White House thinks we should cancel the elections until all the asteroids are gone.
How successful would the Obama Regime be in disguising a false flag attack on a US city as an asteroid impact?
How hard would it then be to move everyone into "Asteroid-free zones", personally protected by the Asteroid Czar?
It just goes on and on.
Rather than one big asteroid strike, I’d settle for 100.000 meteorite strikes all hitting a democrat or liberal at the same time.
No need for catastrophe management.
My surgery worked wonders, but the recovery was painful.
But that's a thread hijack so never mind...
But seriously, the best way to stop an asteroid is to land a small satellite with a small nuclear warhead--maybe 10 kT--on the surface of the asteroidc and detonate it while it is still far away. While the yield is low the effects of the 10 kT detonation may change the trajectory of the asteroid enough such that it will go from hitting the Earth to completely missing it.
Well there is that movie with Bruce Willis about destroying an asteroid with a nuke ....
Rusty: Hey, ya’ got Pac Man?
Cousin Dale: No.
Rusty: Ya’ got Space Invaders?
Cousin Dale: Nope.
Rusty: Ya’ got Asteroids?
Cousin Dale: Naw, but my dad does. Can’t even sit on the toilet some days.
I understand an easy way to deflect it - if found early enough - is to paint the asteroid white on one side. Then let photon ballistics do the rest....
I understand an easy way to deflect it - if found early enough - is to paint the asteroid white on one side. Then let photon ballistics do the rest....
But could we get Ben Laughtrack and Bruce Willis to field a team of redneck housepainters to go up there and save the world?
Sure!The U.S. should be prepared for the impact of an asteroid.And what are we to do if one hits?
Depending on the size of the thing we won’t do much.Just another waste of money as can’t direct it somewhere else and we damn sure can’t destroy it.
The most major threat to the human race other than I-slam is probably genetic entropy. Asteroids, comets, volcanoes, and earthquakes are leftovers from a recent series of catastrophes and have been damping exponentially since Roman times, i.e. we needn’t fear them anywhere near as much as Romans feared them.
We can’t secure the border,
We can’t get back to the moon,
We can’t stop printing and spending fiat money,
But yes, let’s build high speed rail systems and prepare for asteroids.
I already prepared for asteroids. It was 1981. I had the high score. Got bored with it very quickly. These people are 30 years late to the party.
I think we’d be better off preparing for giant ants or being overthrown by apes. Or follow Japan’s lead and try to get ready for Godzilla.
Hold on to your wallets. Here comes the “asteroid tax”.
considering that the US is both functionally broke/bankrupt AND trying to end the space program, I would put China high on the list of countries with orbital or moon-based space warfare capabilities in 20 years.
This is nothing but your local Bear Patrol.
No bears around today? Thank your local Bear Patrol for keeping you safe and taking another percentage out of your earnings.
That 100-year timeframe is just for the ones we know about. It’s the one we don’t see coming that will be the problem. A long-period asteroid (one that hasn;t passed by before, at least in recorded history) might only be detected a couple of weeks out, which is not enough time to do anything with the technology we currently have. A long-period comet wouldn’t be much better.
More quarters!!!!
My fingers are getting tired....
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