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December 18, 2008
About time
Asteroid Ida and its moon., originally uploaded by doneastwest.
A front page story on Yahoo today tells us that the National Academy of Sciences has created a "blue ribbon panel" to study ways to avoid asteroids that might have our lonely island of life in their crosshairs. More specifically, the asteroid Apophis might have a date with the Earth in 2036:
Observers said that the asteroid — a massive boulder left over from the birth of the solar system — is about 1,000 feet wide and weighs at least 50 million tons.
After further observations, astronomers reported that the asteroid would skim by Earth harmlessly in 2029, but it has a one in 44,000 probability of slamming into our planet on Easter Sunday , April 13, 2036
...
The [panel's] second task is to review various methods that have been proposed to deflect or destroy an incoming asteroid and recommend the best options. They include a nuclear bomb, conventional explosives or a spacecraft that would push or pull the asteroid off its course.
Offbeat ideas are painting the surface of the asteroid so that the sun's rays would heat it differently and alter its direction, and a ``gravity tractor, ''a satellite that would fly close to the asteroid, gently nudging it aside.
They only created this panel NOW? Where were they ten years ago? Armageddon and Deep Impact both came out in 1998, and nevermind that there are hundreds of impact craters all over the Earth. Yet this is the first time the scientists have felt compelled to discuss the issue? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, scientists. Bruce Willis was on this a long time ago.
By the way, I truly believe the best way to avoid an asteroid threat is to send a rag-tag group of deep-core drillers, along with several apple-pie astronauts. Then they can land their spacecraft on the asteroid, drill a hole in it, and blow it up. Seems reasonable to me.
entry no. 1262
Posted at December 18, 2008 10:08 AM
Comments
Armageddon was on Starz today, if it hadn't been for that pesky family dinner I would have watched the rest of the movie.
I flipped to the channel right at my favorite part with Steve Buscemi saying "You know we're sitting on 4 million lbs of fuel, one nuclear weapon, and a thing that has 270 thousand moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?"
Posted by: G at December 24, 2008 09:22 PM