But this will always be THE Asteroids game"
Posted on 06/23/2018 1:13:15 PM PDT by TBP
The next time asteroids menace the earth, we'll be ready. Because NASA has created a plan.
But before you get too excited, unfortunately, NASA's just-released plan does not include a Bruce Willis-led crew of roughnecks landing on an asteroid and blowing it to smithereens with a nuke. Which begs the question, if that's not part of the plan, what's a potential "Space Force" actually for?
Yesterday, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a report titled, the "National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan." Okay, see, this is the problem with government bloat. That title is a waste of words. Just call it "Armageddon."
The report is 18 pages of steps for NASA and FEMA to take over the next decade to prevent big asteroids from clanking into Earth. Wait, why is FEMA part of this action plan? Well, you know, in case the NASA part fails and we do get squashed by an asteroid. FEMA calls the we-get-squashed scenario "a low-probability but high-consequence event."
Step one in the NASA plan is better asteroid detection and tracking. That seems important. You can't dodge punches you never see coming.
Second, improving our ability to predict where an asteroid might hit, so FEMA can respond appropriately.
Third, the awesome part — asteroid deflection. So, if NASA's not using tough oil-drillers to land on and kill the asteroid, how would they do it? The plan would be to launch a spacecraft toward an asteroid that would change the asteroid's trajectory just enough to give us earthlings a good scare and a great show. But live to tell about it.
NASA has plans to experiment with this deflection technique with a spacecraft launching in 2021. It's called the "Double Asteroid Redirection Test" or DART. Clever.
Currently, astronomers have found over 8,000 asteroids in space measuring at least 460 feet across. That would be big enough to pulverize an entire state if it hit the US. But don't worry — only one-third of all near-earth asteroids are that large.
So, just a 33.3 percent chance of total annihilation.
But this will always be THE Asteroids game"
I wish I had all the quarters back that I dropped in that slot...
Who funds these stupid projects?
Those congress-critters ought to be fired.
Same mentality funded the tower of Babel.
If I had half the money back I put into that machine.....but it was fun.
Sure, their going to hire Russa to save their butts....
Less than a third of the world’s surface is dry land—the Pacific Ocean alone is larger than all the continents combined. So the chances of an asteroid hitting land would be about 11%...and less than 10% of the land area of the earth is the US. So there is very little chance that an asteroid which hit the earth would hit the US. It might actually hit some place that we would prefer to have demolished.
You forgot the free phone. A free phone is a basic human right. It would racist to not give a phone.
So, what if these moves the asteroid into a new orbit. You know...the orbit that hits us two or three orbits later.
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.
That’s the one.
The plan would be to launch a spacecraft toward an asteroid that would change the asteroid's trajectory just enough to give us earthlings a good scare and a great show.
IOW, don't make any really long-term plans, because they appear to be talking about the one system that absolutely will not work. I'm encouraged that they finally admit that we need more detection capability. Thanks TBP.
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30% of the Earth’s surface is land, so that’s the chance of a land impact.
An impact on the sea of an object that size wouldn’t be a picnic, and could have a lengthy negative influence on the survival of our civilization.
There isn’t any particular apparent preference for impacts on or near the Equator rather than the polar areas.
We have a large moon by Solar System standards, so there’s also a slightly reduced cnance of any surface impact on Earth, as the Moon would screen out some of the random arrivals.
Asteroid detection is perfect for the “space command” department.
HaHa.... I couldn’t count how many quarters I dropped into that game in 1979-80.
“Via Giphyl
Ahh, the memories.
It is a national defense issue — particularly since an asteroid bombardment wiping out an enemy state would like like a natural event.
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