Hollywood Got It Wrong, This Is How You Stop An Apocalyptic Asteroid

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 2-25-2007 | Richard Gray

[blam]

[MittFan08]

And hey, if we can't divert if far enough away for a miss, at least nudge it on up to Canada or down to Mexico. That would actually be an interesting scenario if an asteroid were heading to the US and we had the technology to divert it into another country but not to miss the earth altogether. Wonder if we would try to nudge it away.

[Rhetorical pi2]

Could we just put a big parachute on it and let it come down slowly. :-) ......kidding!!!

Actually, there is only one man on earth who can solve this problem....inventor of the internet, and promoter of "global warming".....algore!!!

[Fiddlstix]

Actually, there is only one man on earth who can solve this problem....inventor of the internet, and promoter of "global warming".....algore!!!

Didn't you get the memo?
He invented asteroids too.

[decal]

"Actually, there is only one man on earth who can solve this problem...."

Silly me - I thought it was Chuck Norris.

[FairOpinion]

PING

[weegee]

Just one football pitch-sized asteroid smashing into the planet would create destruction on a terrifying scale, wiping out any area it hit, sending flaming debris into the atmosphere and causing tidal waves. Scientists claim that it is only a matter of time before one is found on a collision course.

The biggest "tragedy" would be the inability of the socialist utopian Left to pin the blame on the industrialization of the Western World.

[weegee]

I thought Mr. Atari invented Asteroids.

[cincinnati65]

"Research to be unveiled at the three-day Planetary Defence Conference in Washington DC will reveal that defending the Earth may not be as simple as suggested by films such as Armageddon in which Bruce Willis's character destroys a giant asteroid using a nuclear bomb."

Note to the Planetary Defence Conference in Washington DC: Movies are works of fiction -- even Al Gore's -- no research is necessary to show it may be harder than the movie....and probably less likely.

[Richard Kimball]

He invented asteroids too.

Yeah. He can't even sit on the toilet some days.

[BuffaloJack]

ping

[Yossarian]

How about painting the object white and letting solar wind blow it off course?

[AntiGuv]

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[citizencon]

The world has a very low opinion of the US... if the MSM are to be believed...but who would the haters of 'imperialistic' America depend on to save mankind from these asteroids? Yeah, "Yankee go home"...and "Death to America"...

[Grizzled Bear]

Have Barbara Streisand sing at it. That really repulses me!

[Unmarked Package]

Of all the schemes to divert an asteroid from its trajectory proposed thus far, this one is the least likely to succeed in my opinion.

First, there is the problem of attempting to land on the surface of the asteroid. If the asteroid is tumbling randomly with any significant rotational velocity, good luck.

Second, if the exact composition of the surface at the exact location of landing is not well known, good luck designing anchors to fix the lander to the surface and designing an appropriate drill.

Third, the scheme relies on a complex, unmanned mechanical drilling and ejection process with all the associated mechanical and electrical failure modes, again, good luck.

No thanks, I'll stick with the gravity tug proposal for the best chance of success.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

one football pitch-sized asteroid

Huh? How big is that?

[JasonC]

Chuck Norris is not on the earth. The earth is under Chuck Norris.

[Larry Lucido]

I'm glad you asked. I figured I was the only one who didn't know.