Should an asteroid impact be taken more seriously?
Discussion
Apparently the location of asteroids and comets has been left, largely, to amateurs. Statistically, I am more likely to die from an asteroid impact than win the lottery (because of the billions that could be killed). It's not a case of 'if' but 'when' the next one hits. Wouldn't the money being spent in, say, Iraq be better spent on detection of such objects and finding a solution? Also, wouldn't it be ironic if billions were spent reducing CO2 levels, only for a space object to wipe us all out!
I know that you're a religious man Srebbe. I think it might stand you in good stead on this one.
I don't think even the combined monies that have been spent on the Iraq, Afghan and Serbian wars would solve this problem. This is particuarly true with respect to government funded initiatives.
It's true that this has been left to "Amateur Astros" to spot, but that's not actually a bad thing.
Asteroids are small and the sky is big. There is more chance of spotting one early, when you're looking for something else, than there is if you specifically look for the things.
This isnt strictly true, but there are significant practical issues.
A further thought, is what the heck do you do if one of these things is coming at you.
This is the whole problem with big government initiatives. Some people in government assume that they can just ask for a fix. The reality is that you have to wait for a feasible idea to come along. If you're not funding science and technology, then the ideas just won't materialise.
There's a massive backlog of groundwork that we'd have to to to get on top of this issue. The question is, how would britain propose to destroy an object the size of a city, travelling at perhaps an eighth of the speed of light. We cant even get into orbit.
I'm not religious, but I think even I might pray on that one!
HTH.
I don't think even the combined monies that have been spent on the Iraq, Afghan and Serbian wars would solve this problem. This is particuarly true with respect to government funded initiatives.
It's true that this has been left to "Amateur Astros" to spot, but that's not actually a bad thing.
Asteroids are small and the sky is big. There is more chance of spotting one early, when you're looking for something else, than there is if you specifically look for the things.
This isnt strictly true, but there are significant practical issues.
A further thought, is what the heck do you do if one of these things is coming at you.
This is the whole problem with big government initiatives. Some people in government assume that they can just ask for a fix. The reality is that you have to wait for a feasible idea to come along. If you're not funding science and technology, then the ideas just won't materialise.
There's a massive backlog of groundwork that we'd have to to to get on top of this issue. The question is, how would britain propose to destroy an object the size of a city, travelling at perhaps an eighth of the speed of light. We cant even get into orbit.
I'm not religious, but I think even I might pray on that one!
HTH.
ed 
dilbert said:
I know that you're a religious man Srebbe. I think it might stand you in good stead on this one.
I don't think even the combined monies that have been spent on the Iraq, Afghan and Serbian wars would solve this problem. This is particuarly true with respect to government funded initiatives.
It's true that this has been left to "Amateur Astros" to spot, but that's not actually a bad thing.
Asteroids are small and the sky is big. There is more chance of spotting one early, when you're looking for something else, than there is if you specifically look for the things.
This isnt strictly true, but there are significant practical issues.
A further thought, is what the heck do you do if one of these things is coming at you.
This is the whole problem with big government initiatives. Some people in government assume that they can just ask for a fix. The reality is that you have to wait for a feasible idea to come along. If you're not funding science and technology, then the ideas just won't materialise.
There's a massive backlog of groundwork that we'd have to to to get on top of this issue. The question is, how would britain propose to destroy an object the size of a city, travelling at perhaps an eighth of the speed of light. We cant even get into orbit.
I'm not religious, but I think even I might pray on that one!
HTH.
Are you mad Dilbert? An eigth the speed of light? Typically it'll be travelling 5 miles per second. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second.
Secondly, the further away one is the less of a nudge it will need and the more time we'll have to develop a solution. As such, I think we should start looking with more vigour!
Until this year, the countries round the Indian Ocean couldn't agree, or fund, a tsunami warning system. Unlike tsunamis, the problem with asteroids is humanity won't get a yellow card - it's straight red. Although, I guess, Scumacher-Levy hitting Jupiter could be deemed as a yellow card.
srebbe64 said:
Apparently the location of asteroids and comets has been left, largely, to amateurs.
That might have been the case in the past, but those 'discovered' by amateurs are now vastly outweighed by those found by L.I.N.E.A.R.
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/
"Currently, LINEAR telescopes observe each patch of sky 5 times in one evening with most of the efforts going into searching along the ecliptic plane where most NEOs would be expected. The sensitivity of their CCDs, and particularly their relatively rapid read out rates, allows LINEAR to cover large areas of sky each night. Currently, the LINEAR program is responsible for the majority of NEO discoveries."
edited to add that an NEO is a Near Earth Object.
So don't worry - NASA's looking after us!
>> Edited by chim666 on Sunday 2nd October 19:26
>> Edited by chim666 on Sunday 2nd October 19:36
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