Despite Elon Musk's...tweet about an asteroid hitting Earth, NASA says there is no known threat

CNN ^ | August 20, 2019 | Leah Asmelash

[BenLurkin]

— Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, tweeted that a "big rock" is going to hit Earth, and that we "currently have no defense."

But NASA, seems to disagree.

Musk's tweet was a response to another by comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan, who shared an article reporting that NASA has begun preparations for the 1,100-foot-wide asteroid Apophis, which is scheduled to pass by Earth on April 13, 2029. Apophis named after an Egyptian god of death.

Musk isn't wrong when he tweeted "Wouldn't worry about this particular one," though. Apophis is going to miss us by 19,000 miles. It's rare that such a large object will be this close, so NASA scientists will take the opportunity to observe surface details and other things that may help with planetary defense.

Musk didn't elaborate on what he meant by "big rock," so it's hard to know what he was actually referring to.

NASA's website, though, clearly says, "No known asteroid poses a significant risk of impact with Earth over the next 100 years."

Lindley Johnson, of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, reiterated that stance in a statement.

[a fool in paradise]

>> a “big rock” is going to hit Earth, and that we “currently have no defense.”

“...BUT I’ll SELL you one!”

[a fool in paradise]

>>NASA’s website, though, clearly says, “No known asteroid poses a significant risk of impact with Earth over the next 100 years.”

We’re good then global warming kills us all in 11.35 years.

[BenLurkin]

“Which you will pay for twice.”

[Pikachu_Dad]

NASA is not disagreeing with Musk.

They have just not identified a rock that will hit in the next 100 years.

NASA is ACTIVELY looking for rocks that might hit us.

And they are ACTIVELY thinking of means to prevent said rocks from hitting us.

Who writes this tripe ?!?

[Pikachu_Dad]

https://youtu.be/EZSCtgfmEO0

[cincinnati65]

He doesn’t even have one to sell. What he’s got is a really cool “idea” he got while tripping on mushrooms about flying monkeys and lasers, but he needs some government grants to get the whole thing off the ground.

[Paul R.]

Agreed.

Also, an extra-solar object coming in from say, the direction of the Earth’s axis, would be a complete surprise until relatively close. (These are rare, but not unknown.)

Furthermore, while the odds of a “hit” are higher than the above, but still low, it would not take much of a nudge at all to slightly alter even a “big rock’s” orbit from, say, a “Earth-Moon distance miss” to “right between the eyes”. I don’t have the program to figure something like this out, but my guess is that if said “big rock” is 10 years out, and cohesive enough to not break up from the impact, a car sized object splashing it, or maybe even a near miss of it’s own, could disastrously (for us) alter “big rock’s” orbit. It might take a lot less of a “nudge”. I’d sure like to see such a simulation run for various size secondary objects and vectors...

[Crucial]

I think solar sails might work. However, we would probably need faster and more maneuverable rockets.

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*

[SunkenCiv]

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[DoodleBob]

Chilax, everyone. We are safe. Per Wikipedia, 99942 Apophis caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a probability of up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029. Additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on Earth or the Moon in 2029.

However, until 2006, a possibility remained that during the 2029 close encounter with Earth, Apophis would pass through a gravitational keyhole, a small region no more than about 0.5 mile wide, or 0.8 km that would set up a future impact exactly seven years later on April 13, 2036. This possibility kept it at Level 1 on the Torino impact hazard scale until August 2006, when the probability that Apophis would pass through the keyhole was determined to be very small and Apophis' rating on the Torino scale was lowered to zero.

By 2008, the keyhole had been determined to be less than 1 km wide. During the short time when it had been of greatest concern, Apophis set the record for highest rating on the Torino scale, reaching level 4 on December 27, 2004.[10] In 2008, NASA reaffirmed the chance of Apophis impacting Earth in 2036 as being 1 in 45,000.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks DoodleBob. I remember watching the Torino # reach (if memory serves) a 4, and drop back to 0, then yo-yo between zero and one, all in a short period of time (probably during one night). There was a flap about making announcements about the Torino number before everyone got everything right (which is an imaginary state, btw). :^)