Posted on 09/27/2005 5:00:09 PM PDT by xcamel
· Three-year study will use computer simulations
· 'It's a small risk, but with a high consequence'
British scientists are set to go where only Bruce Willis has gone before: chasing after asteroids on a collision course with Earth. In a three-year £300,000 study funded by the government-backed Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, engineers will use computer simulations to work out the feasibility of changing the direction of asteroids.
"It's clear from geological records that the Earth has been impacted in the past by large objects," said Colin McInnes of Strathclyde University. Although none of the space objects currently tracked by Nasa are heading for Earth, Professor McInnes added that preparing for a potential catastrophe was a valid concern. "You have to place it in context - it's a small risk but with a high consequence."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
A lawyer's dream.
just use all the hot air coming from the dems. That will deflect any asteroid or alien invasion.
Maybe some Ex-lax would help.
First we need to find them and track them. I always get a kick of the stories that talk about the "close call" from an object that was observed AFTER it passed by the earth.
the Earth has been impacted in the past by large objects
Why am I reminded of the joke about "What do the starship Enterprise and toilet paper have in common?"
I hope these Euroweenies know what they're doing. If they mistakenly nudge the asteroid into Earth's orbit.......I hope it lands on Paris or Berlin.
It was a comet. It was a stupid movie, too. They put a mountain near VA Beach so this kid and one girl could motorcycle up it and survive. I mean, one minute they're on the peninsula, but when the wave hits 20 minutes later they're somewhere in the Great Smokies. Huh?
How could a person that obese parade around with their shirt off? Those breasts have got to be at least B cups.
Never mind, I forgot, Kennedy's have no shame.
If we could just get a volcano to erupt at the same time and location as an incoming meteor impact, the volcano would shoot the meteor back out into space, sucking the volcanic debris with it, saving everything.
I know I had that volcano master control device laying somewhere arround here. I wonder if Bush has it?
Thank God the Brits are wasting money on this so we won't have to.
A lawyer's dream.
Too true. Perhaps WAY too soon. I fear the European Space Agency's Don Quijote mission the article discusses is trying to change the orbit of the wrong asteroid. They want to hit Apophis (aka 2004 MN4) when it makes it certain to barely miss us pass in 2029. Some here will recall this was the asteroid, found during the tsunami story, that had its predicted risk of hitting us in 2029 grow to 1/37 before that pass was proven to be safe. However, depending on precisely where it passes in 2029 it could become a nearly sure hit in 2036. We may not be able to predict 2036 with confidence until after the 2029 pass unless we stick a transponder on it before then. Something the article doesn't mention as planned. I suppose The Guardian could have things wrong. Again. The experts aren't sure that the potential earth based visual and radar observations can alone provide good enough data to rule out a 2036 hit before 2029. So ESA, without adequate data on the baseline orbit could accidentally provide precisely the wrong push. Do we really want the motto, "In ESA we trust?"
I favor practicing practicing Asteroid moving, but barring an emergency we should start practicing on ones safely inside Earth's orbit. There human error can't hurt us. If we are going to be sending missions to earth crossing asteroids anyway than Apophis is as good a one as any to visit and, while we're there, tag with a transponder.
For those wanting more information on potential risks from Apophis there is an excellent article in the July/August 2005 The Planetary Report. However you need to join the Planetary Society to receive that and this text isn't online at their website even for members. At least this member couldn't find it there.
And another thing: why do movie asteroids only target big cities? I bet Ithaca, New York got hit too, but I guess watching students from Cornell running around in panic isn't as much fun as watching a guy and his dog in the streets of Manhattan. I will say though that the Paris sequence was very well done. Sacre bleu!
Mmmmm, Cornell hit by an asteroid.
Oh, and another thing! Tea Leoni is arguing with her dad in one of those drenching studio downpours. Anyway, she gets in the last word, steps into the street, raises her arm, and a taxi screeches to a halt in front of her.
And did I mention it's at night? In DC?
Money well spent, as long as no Louisiana politicians are involved.
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