I don’t really have a good feel about how big a problem this could be. I know that planes could be flying and aren’t.
I don’t really like the sound of “well this could be a catastrophe, but we’ll let private industry handle it” I’ve seen plenty of movies where meteors or comets hit the earth. We should have a solution ready for that.
Are you certain that those planes could be flying those air routes that cross the path of the ash cloud? Have you ever seen or read about what volcanic ash does to jet airplane engines?
The ash is in the air at the altitudes and within the air lanes where these planes need to fly. Believe me, you can't just tough it through a volcanic ash cloud. It's suicide.
I read today that limited flights were supposed to start up again in Northern and Western Europe. Don't know if the ash cloud moved off enough for them to do that or not. If it didn't, then they're still grounded.
I’ve seen plenty of movies where meteors or comets hit the earth. We should have a solution ready for that.
Scientists and other thinkers have been trying to dream up a technology to handle that scenario for some time, but there are technological limitations that need to be overcome. I agree that governments ought to be funding research to design and build a technology to handle the threat of large objects from space. If there's anything that can kill off the whole human race, that's it.