Don’t forget the screwup on the other Mars probe. Didn’t convert the calculations from metric and it burned up on entry.
Oops. Got it backwards. Didn’t convert from English to metric.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/launches/orbiter_errorupd_093099.htm
Its all Bush’s fault anyway...
I find amazing that this is even published.
However it does give the “sky is falling” crowd something more to scare the uninformed.
I hope he spelled better than this nitwit reporter....
Well, that’s what you get when you use “boffins”, whatever that is!..................
I would think the result of that asteroid hitting a satellite would be about the same as a car smacking into a beetle at 65 mph. Beetle goes splat, car is unaffected.
Can you imagine a kid that has gone through OUR public school system being able to figure something like this???
Maybe the Mars Rover ended up on Venus instead of Mars. Who would know?
Surely Teal’c can do something about this.
“If the asteroid strikes a satellite in 2029, that will change its trajectory making it hit earth on its next orbit in 2036.”
I find it a little difficult to believe that a 1,000 lb communications satellite will alter the orbit of a 200,000 billion ton asteroid very much. But hey, I am not a rocket scientist, I just stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.
.....Bob
Gosh, hope it doesn’t screw up my Directv satellite signal.
“Our Germans are better than their Germans.”
Space ping.
Just because it hits a satellite, the does NOT mean that it will automatically hit Earth on it's return trip.
Apophis has to pass through a relatively small orbital keyhole in order to hit Earth on its return trip. Hitting a satellite MAY make Apophis pass through the keyhole but would probably make no difference at all.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Oh man...retirement’s going to suck!
Kids like him wear pocket protectors and hide dirty pictures under their mattresses.......
If the asteroid strikes a satellite in 2029, that will change its trajectory making it hit earth on its next orbit in 2036.
So, if it even taps a satellite, it is guaranteed to hit the earth 7 years later. No chance for an inconsequential strike? No chance that a trajectory that would have caused it to hit earth later will be changed by a satellite strike into a miss?
Both NASA and Marquardt agree that if the asteroid does collide with earth, it will create a ball of iron and iridium 320 metres (1049 feet) wide and weighing 200 billion tonnes, which will crash into the Atlantic Ocean.
It only has a tiny chance of hitting the earth because we don't know its location and velocity precisely, but we do know that it will hit the Atlantic? Is there any chance that bumping off a satellite will cause it to hurtle into the Pacific?
Since the difference between a 1/450 chance and a 1/45000 chance is almost exactly 1/450, that means (even assuming the goofy assumption that a satellite strike means guaranteed doom in 7 years) that there is a 1 in 450 chance of hitting a satellite on its 2029 pass at 32,500 kilometers. Sorry, that's in the range of only the geosynchronous satellites. There aren't that many up there, they are hundreds of miles apart, and the asteroid would have to cross the equatorial plane right at the 35786 km geosynchronous orbital location.
Sorry, I smell news hype more than actual news. Now, if the predicted orbit shows it passing 35786 km right at the equator, then it could be more trouble.
LOL! Talk about your irony... An article talking about miscalculations contains this whopper....
Based on the size reported, and a density of 10 g/cm3 (which accounts for "mostly iron, with a little iridium"), I get a mass of about 172x109 kg ... which is about 172 million tonnes.
But hey ... what's a factor of 1000 between friends?
Does this mean its time to party like it’s 2029? :-)