Free Republic

A former housing official who worked under President George H. W. Bush has made an astonishing claim that the U.S. government spent years funneling money into the creation of a secret underground “city” where the rich and powerful can shelter in the event of a “near-extinction event.” Catherine Austin Fitts, who served as the assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing between 1989 and 1990, made the shocking allegations during an appearance on former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s podcast, although there is no concrete evidence to support her claims. Fitts, 74, who is originally from Philadelphia, cited...

On Friday the 13th (yes, really) of April 2029, Earth will avoid an apocalyptic event by an astronomical hair’s breadth as the asteroid Apophis, streaks by. It will come closer to Earth than the Moon — much closer in fact. It will come between us and the satellites that bring us radio, television and military intelligence. Apophis is named after an Egyptian god of chaos and evil. If it were to hit Earth, chaos would be the least of our trouble. It’s 1,000 feet across, the size of a football stadium, and it’s going 69,000 miles an hour. Apophis won’t...

On April 13th, 2029 an absolutely gigantic asteroid known as “Apophis” will come very close to our planet. In fact, we are being told that Apophis will actually be ten times closer than the Moon as it zips past the Earth. The good news is that scientists are assuring us that there is zero chance that this enormous space rock will hit us. The bad news is that we cannot see Apophis right now, and if there is even the slightest change in the projected trajectory it could end up slamming into our planet. Needless to say, if Apophis actually...

There is a slim but overlooked risk that the "God of Chaos" asteroid Apophis could hit Earth as it makes a super close approach to our planet in 2029, a new study reveals. The odds of such a calamitous collision are more than one-in-a-billion — but we won't be able to rule it out for at least three more years. Apophis is a peanut-shaped space rock spanning around 1,100 feet (340 meters) across, or around the same size as the Eiffel Tower. At this size, the chunky space rock is not hefty enough to be considered a "planet killer" asteroid...

Computer simulations reveal that the close flyby of Apophis, the "God of Chaos" asteroid, in 2029 still poses no risk to Earth, even when a worrying, previously unrecognized factor is taken into account. There is almost zero chance that the infamous city-killer asteroid "Apophis" will hit Earth when it zips closely past our planet in 2029 — even when a previously unconsidered factor is taken into account, a new study shows. Apophis is a peanut-shaped space rock spanning around 1,100 feet (340 meters) across that was left behind by the formation of the solar system around 4.6 billion years ago....

Original story belowUpdate, Dec. 25, 9:47 p.m. ET: The risk of an impact by asteroid 2004 MN4 went up slightly on Saturday, Dec. 25. It is now pegged at having a 1-in -45 chance of striking the planet on April 13, 2029. That's up from 1-in-63 late on Dec. 24, and 1-in-300 early on Dec. 24. Astronomers still stress that it is very likely the risk will be reduced to zero with further observations. And even as it stands with present knowledge, the chances are 97.8 percent the rock will miss Earth.Update, Dec. 24, 10:19 p.m. ET: An asteroid that...

A very interesting space mission that is at the same time kind of frightening: A NASA spacecraft that recently returned from deep space has been relaunched for a mission to study the "God of Chaos" asteroid as it begins to near Earth's orbit. The agency's spacecraft OSIRIS-REx — now named the OSIRIS-APEX — has been sent off to study the asteroid Apophis' extremely close flyby of Earth in 2029, the likes of which "hasn't happened since the dawn of recorded history," NASA announced. Oh really, an asteroid is making an "extremely close flyby" of our fragile planet in 5ish years?...

(Photos and image at link.)A powerful transmitter in remote Alaska sent long wavelength radio signals into space Tuesday with the purpose of bouncing them off an asteroid to learn about its interior.The asteroid, 2010 XC15, is estimated to be about 500 feet across and is passing by Earth at two lunar distances, which is twice the distance between the Earth and the moon. Results of Tuesday’s experiment at the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program research facility at Gakona could aid efforts to defend Earth from larger asteroids that could cause significant damage.“We will be analyzing the data over the next...

Over 100 participants from 18 countries – including NASA scientists and the agency’s NEOWISE mission – took part in the international exercise. Watching the skies for large asteroids that could pose a hazard to the Earth is a global endeavor. So, to test their operational readiness, the international planetary defense community will sometimes use a real asteroid’s close approach as a mock encounter with a “new” potentially hazardous asteroid. The lessons learned could limit, or even prevent, global devastation should the scenario play out for real in the future. To that end, more than 100 astronomers from around the world...

Apophis will still pass by the Earth in 2029 – specifically on April 13 – at a distance less than 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) from the Earth's surface. The massive asteroid known as 99942 Apophis was once considered among the most dangerous asteroid in space, with the potential to strike Earth very high. When it was discovered, the 370-meter asteroid's trajectory towards the planet made many fear that an impact could actually happen. Ultimately, however, this situation now seems unlikely thanks to additional data gathered by astronomers. As such, NASA has declared the planet free of risk from any asteroid...

The March flyby won't be nearly as stunning as the 2029 close approach; Apophis will come only one-tenth of the average distance between the Earth and the sun, more than 40 times as distant as the moon is from Earth. But scientists have big goals for Apophis' 2029 flyby, and in order to get the most out of that opportunity, they need to know as much as possible about the space rock. An animation shows Apophis' 2029 path compared to the swarm of satellites orbiting Earth. (Image: © NASA/JPL-Caltech) Apophis has been rattling around the inner solar system for millennia,...

Only a small handful of objects are known to pose a serious threat to Earth, and the gigantic asteroid Apophis is one of them. Scientists are now re-evaluating its potential to strike our planet in 48 years, owing to improved observations of the problematic asteroid. Observations made earlier this year from the Subaru Telescope in Hawai’i are providing astronomers with a better sense of how the Yarkovsky effect is influencing the orbital path of asteroid 99942 Apophis. This effect is like a built-in propulsion system for asteroids, in which trace amounts of leaking radiation can alter an object’s momentum in...

Friday the 13th of April 2029 could be a very unlucky day for planet Earth. At 4:36 am Greenwich Mean Time, a 25-million-ton, 820-ft.-wide asteroid called 99942 Apophis will slice across the orbit of the moon and barrel toward Earth at more than 28,000 mph. The huge pockmarked rock, two-thirds the size of Devils Tower in Wyoming, will pack the energy of 65,000 Hiroshima bombs -- enough to wipe out a small country or kick up an 800-ft. tsunami. On this day, however, Apophis is not expected to live up to its namesake, the ancient Egyptian god of darkness and...

According to the provided article, asteroid 99942 Apophis has a 1 in 40 chance of hitting earth in 2029. If it misses in 2029, it would have an even higher chance of hitting in 2036. According to NASA and other reputable sources the asteroid is of 370 meters in diameter which is about the size of the Eiffel Tower. When you plug this into a simulation like the asteroid collision map, you can see that its large magnitude can cause some pretty serious damages depending on the location it impacts. According to the simulation, some of these effects are earthquakes,...

A relatively large asteroid that would cause damage if it hit earth will undergo a near miss of earth, flying right by. There was earlier controversy as to whether the asteroid would hit, but now scientists say it won't hit. Previously a 1-40 chance of colliding. However, if the around 370 meter asteroid actually did hit earth in a high density area.. it would be a disaster. According to a simulation from an Asteroid Damage Simulator, the asteroid would cause hundreds of thousands of casualties and hundreds of buildings would collapse in range. Fortunately, this will not happen as the...

— Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, tweeted that a "big rock" is going to hit Earth, and that we "currently have no defense." But NASA, seems to disagree. Musk's tweet was a response to another by comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan, who shared an article reporting that NASA has begun preparations for the 1,100-foot-wide asteroid Apophis, which is scheduled to pass by Earth on April 13, 2029. Apophis named after an Egyptian god of death. Musk isn't wrong when he tweeted "Wouldn't worry about this particular one," though. Apophis is going to miss us by 19,000 miles. It's...

Sunday is International Asteroid Day, commemorating the Earth's largest recorded asteroid impact while focusing on the real danger of asteroids that could collide with Earth. In 1908, a powerful asteroid struck the Podkamennaya Tunguska River area in a remote Siberian forest of Russia. Six years ago, an asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia. It exploded in the air, releasing 20 to 30 times more energy than that of the first atomic bombs and generating brightness greater than the sun. It damaged more than 7,000 buildings and injured more than 1,000 people. The shock wave broke windows 58 miles away....

On April 13, 2029, a 1,110-foot-wide asteroid known as 99942 Apophis will speed past our planet at an estimated distance of around 19,000 miles, potentially coming closer to the surface than some orbiting spacecraft. Despite being a decade away, this future close encounter is causing quite a stir within the asteroid research community. So much so that it is the focus of a session Tuesday at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in College Park, Maryland, during which scientists will discuss everything from potential observation strategies to hypothetical missions that could explore the object itself. On the day of the close...

Astronomers have calculated the Apophis asteroid will speed past Earth on April 13, 2029, at just 18,600 miles away -- a hair's width in astronomical terms. To put that into perspective, the moon is 238,900 miles away... If the 27 billion kg asteroid were to hit Earth, scientists calculate that it would leave a crater over a mile wide and a staggering 518 metres deep. However, most worryingly, the impact would be equivalent to 880 million tons of TNT being detonated -- some 65,000 times as powerful as the nuclear bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima. The next time the...

A MASSIVE asteroid that could have destroyed New York City skimmed past Earth – and NASA had no clue. The large space rock – dubbed 2017 VL2 – passed the planet on November 9 at an astonishing distance of just 73,000 miles, which is considered tiny in space terms. Space boffins think that if the rock measuring between 16 and 32 metres had hit, it could’ve wiped a major city such as New York off the map. The rock belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and was first seen at ATLAS-MLO observatory in Hawaii a day later. It was...