Posted on 07/26/2018 3:52:43 PM PDT by BenLurkin
It may sound like it came straight from a science fiction novel, but the scientists believe taking an entire asteroid could provide an ample source of minerals of industrial and economic importance.
It could also improve current research into the origins of the solar system as well as the beginnings of water and life on Earth, while reducing the threat posed by near-Earth objects.
"Unlike missions to bring samples back, we aim to bring back a whole asteroid weighing several hundred tonnes, which could turn asteroids with a potential threat to Earth into usable resources," says Li Mingtao, researcher at the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Li and his team advanced the idea at a contest for future technologies held in Shenzhen, south of Guangdong Province in China.
How does one capture an asteroid, even one that is smaller than the rest? The team proposes to design a spacecraft that can wield an enormous bag that can be used to carry the asteroid as it pushes it toward Earth.
(Excerpt) Read more at techtimes.com ...
We know they can. And will! That’s why we elected Trump. heh
My thought was "Great. More mass to slow down Earth's rotation even more."
But at 300 tons, that early 2000s tsunami did more to disrupt the rotation.
I was thinking that was a danger.
We must accelerate the asteroid with booster rockets.
Enough to take Nancy Pelosi, Mad Max and Chuck Schumer, too.
They can all look for the flag planted by Neil Armstrong. Oh wait, that was Mars and a different Democrat.
Well, they can still look.
Harbor Freight will go into overdrive printing coupons for them.
They’re going to need a heck of a big lasso to pull that off.
And when it enters the atmosphere and gravity takes over?
Do they have a parachute for it too?
There is a theory, called Panspermia, that some life on Earth came from other planets.
Octopi and squids, for instance.
“There is a theory, called Panspermia, that some life on Earth came from other planets.”
The problem with panspermia is that it does not explain how life originated. I merely moves responsibility for it someplace else.
And after they kill it, expect to see "BodyWorlds: Meteorite", wherein no one asks where the dead meteorite came from lest it distract from their entertainment.
Maybe they're the natives and everything else are the travelers.
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