Posted on 03/03/2012 9:46:28 PM PST by LibWhacker
To avert a new apocalypse – this time set for February 2013 – scientists suggest confronting asteroid 2012 DA14 with either paint, or big guns. The tough part of either scheme is that time has long run out to build a spaceship for any operation.
NASA confirms the 60-meter (197-feet) asteroid, spotted by Spanish stargazers in February, has a good chance of colliding with Earth in eleven months.
The rock's closest approach to the planet is scheduled for February 15, 2013, when the distance between the planet and space wanderer will be under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is lower than the geosynchronous orbit kept by the Google Maps satellite.
Fireworks and watercolors
With the asteroid zooming that low, it will be too late to do anything with it besides trying to predict its final destination and the consequences of impact.
A spaceship is needed, experts agree. It could shoot the rock down or just crash into it, either breaking the asteroid into debris or throwing it off course.
“We could paint it,” says NASA expert David Dunham.
Paint would affect the asteroid’s ability to reflect sunlight, changing its temperature and altering its spin. The asteroid would stalk off its current course, but this could also make the boulder even more dangerous when it comes back in 2056, Aleksandr Devaytkin, the head of the observatory in Russia’s Pulkovo, told Izvestia.
Spaceship impossible?
Whatever the mission, building a spaceship to deal with 2012 DA14 will take two years – at least.
The asteroid has proven a bitter discovery. It has been circling in orbit for three years already, crossing Earth’s path several times, says space analyst Sergey Naroenkov from the Russian Academy of Sciences. It seems that spotting danger from outer space is still the area where mere chance reigns, while asteroid defense systems exist only in drafts.
Still, prospects of meeting 2012 DA14 are not all doom and gloom.
“The asteroid may split into pieces entering the atmosphere. In this case, most part of it will never reach the planet’s surface,” remarks Dunham.
But if the entire asteroid is to crash into the planet, the impact will be as hard as in the Tunguska blast, which in 1908 knocked down trees over a total area of 2,150 sq km (830 sq miles) in Siberia. This is almost the size of Luxembourg. In today’s case, the destination of the asteroid is yet to be determined.
” at least yer gonna go clean :) “
pretty sure the vissual will spoil that
Good time to sell Weight Watchers short! And buy McDonalds, Burger King, and Sara Lee!
And Svedka!
Hot fudge Fridae? The odds it will miss the Earth are millions to one...
Figure out how to mine it. There shouldn’t be any endangered slugs to get in our way.
NASA claims a cumulative probability of collision over the next 100 years at 0.022% and doesn’t publish any probabilities prior to 2020.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2012da14.html
Analysis based on 93 observations spanning 10.166 days
(2012-Feb-23.03431 to 2012-Mar-04.200111)
It is almost certain that previous observations will be found by searching older records. Barring that, more observations will be made in the future. With more observations, especially over a longer baseline, the uncertainty in the orbit will decrease dramatically and the likelihood of a collision in the next century will likely become insignificant.
המוסד
Can we steer it towards Hollywood CA?
If this asteroid is going to kill all of us in 11 months, then WTF do we need Obamacare for?
” If this asteroid is going to kill all of us in 11 months, then WTF do we need Obamacare for?”
Free contraception.
Iran
I am not a physicist, but seems to me a nuke blast in deep space does not have the blast affects one would have in an atmospheric enviornment as there is no atmosphere to compress. Perhaps the energy would nudge the rock into another orbit of the sun but I don’t think it would pulverize it.
Anyone have any thoughts on this??
Yes. 16,000 miles is close, but it’s not so close that you’d worry about a hit. It’s well beyond the atmosphere.
If it is determined that it will hit the US, then we can send up an ICBM or two to break it up before it hits the atmosphere. The increased surface area will give the atmosphere, which is our best defense, more to work on.
In any case, it is not a “planet killer”.
They’ll probably know pretty accurately where it is going to hit in the weeks before impact.
The Myans missed because there wasn’t a “Leap Day” back then. We just pushed the date forward.
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ICBM’s can’t even get into orbit.
It’s time to call Bruce Willis to saddle up and head on out there. (Armageddon, 1998)
NASA confirms the 60-meter (197-feet) asteroid, spotted by Spanish stargazers in February, has a good chance of colliding with Earth... February 15, 2013, when the distance between the planet and space wanderer will be under 27,000 km (16,700 miles)... if the entire asteroid is to crash into the planet, the impact will be as hard as in the Tunguska blast, which in 1908 knocked down trees over a total area of 2,150 sq km (830 sq miles) in Siberia. This is almost the size of Luxembourg.Gee, it'll just knock down some trees. Whew. Of course, the Tunguska object is generally believed to have been mostly water, and detonated above the ground. This is *just* a 60 meter (197 foot) rock...
Of course this effort would increate jobs, icrease our industrial output and would be a major "GREEN PROJECT' so Obomast would ignore this optiion!
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