Congress hears options for asteroid defense: Pay now or pray later

[BlueGin]

Congress got the word from NASA on Tuesday about its options for dealing with the threats posed by asteroids and comets: Lawmakers can either provide adequate funding for detecting and characterizing near-Earth objects, and diverting them if necessary — or they can pray.

Threats from space are generally the stuff of science-fiction movies such as "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact," but members of the House Science Committee took a hard look at the realities during Tuesday's hearing, which came in response to the Feb. 15 meteor explosion over Russia as well as a close encounter that same day with a much bigger asteroid known as 2012 DA14.

The lawmakers didn't always like what they heard. The committee's chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, told the panelists more than once that the progress report they delivered was "not reassuring." But representatives from both parties were receptive to the idea of putting more resources into the effort to counter cosmic threats.

Congress hears options for asteroid defense: Pay now or pray later - Cosmic Log

 

[waltky]

Granny says one o' these days one o' dem asteroids is gonna knock us all catty-whompus off the earth's axis...

Scientists Advance Asteroid Detection, Deflection, Detonation Research
May 02, 2013 - Amateur and professional skywatchers all over the world send observations to the Minor Planet Center, which collects information about near-Earth objects. The clearinghouse is just one way people are working to protect us from asteroid strikes. Scientists also are developing innovative ways to detect, deflect and possibly destroy dangerous asteroids in Earth's neighborhood.

Asteroid Alert

It sounds like something out of a Hollywood blockbuster. But it's real, and, it's getting $5 million from the U.S. space agency. The Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System - ATLAS for short - is being developed with NASA support by a team of astronomers at the University of Hawaii. As the name implies, their goal is to find asteroids that are just about to make their final plunge and strike our planet.

A simulation of asteroid 2012 DA14 approaching from the south as it passes through the Earth-moon system

ATLAS is envisioned as a network of as many as eight ground-based telescopes, armed with cameras, that would scan the visible sky twice each night. The aim is for ATLAS to provide at least a day's warning for an asteroid that could wipe out a town, a week for one that could devastate a city, or three weeks' notice for one that could wipe out a larger area. "We really aren't going to be able to deflect these asteroids as they're coming in on their last plunge. There's just no chance of that," said astronomer John Tonry, who leads the ATLAS project. "The thing that we can do is provide warning, and the thing that is remarkable about the warning we can provide for asteroid impact is that it's not like hurricanes or tsunamis or earthquakes. It's really accurate. We can say exactly where and when this thing is going to come down."

Detection

ATLAS is designed for a shallow and wide search of the sky, which Tonry says would complement other projects that are searching deep into narrow slivers of sky to find objects still decades away. The system would be sensitive enough to spot a match flame from across the United States. Tonry says there would be a better-than-50/50 chance of providing a day's warning for an object like the meteor that exploded over Russia in February, if copies of ATLAS were spread around the world. "What we really want to do is get diversity around the planet," he said. "Hawaii can't see the southern sky, and if we really want to cover the whole sky, we need to get units in the southern hemisphere, like Australia or Chile or South Africa."

Space-Based Sentinel

Other scientists focus on space-based assets that aren't hindered by Earth's weather conditions, atmosphere or bright skies. A former NASA astronaut, Ed Lu, heads a non-profit organization called the B612 Foundation. Earlier this year, he told lawmakers about efforts to privately raise $450 million to build and operate an infrared space telescope called Sentinel. Lu says the goal is planetary defense. "As Sentinel moves around the Sun, faster than the Earth does, it will scan Earth's orbit, so it's going to find about 100-times more asteroids than all other telescopes combined," he said.

Deflection and Detonation

 

[Politico]

Nothing can defend us from Asteroids. Deal with it.

 

[editec]

Nothing can defend us from Asteroids. Deal with it.

Certainly true if we do not try.

Even if we do create a defense system you may be right.

All depends on the asteroid, when we discover it, how much time we have to react and a host of elements too numerous to list.

Still, I think it would behoove mankind to start thinking and planning for an asteroid defense system.

The question isn't" IF it will again happen; the question is: WHEN will it next happen?

 

[Rozman]

Where is Superman when we need him the most...
Oh yeah since he is an illegal alien he is not allowed to perform super feats....

Maybe Obama can get some legislation passed in the upcoming congress to deal with this issue...

 

[editec]

Where is Superman when we need him the most...
Oh yeah since he is an illegal alien he is not allowed to perform super feats....

Maybe Obama can get some legislation passed in the upcoming congress to deal with this issue...

Maybe you're right.

But then too, many of us who are old enough remember when sending a man to the moon was science fiction, too.

 

[Politico]

Where is Superman when we need him the most...

We still have Bruce Willis.

 

[waltky]

rozman wrote: Maybe Obama can get some legislation passed in the upcoming congress to deal with this issue...

Granny says, "Fat chance o' dat happenin'."

 

[Katzndogz]

We need to have a massive experimental program that will cost trillions of dollars because the failed green energy companies need to have replacement sources of revenue to launder for democrat political contributions.

When will we finally give it up and get to the end goal. That would be invisible cloth for obama's new suit.

 

[dilloduck]

I know--the UN can pay for it !

 

[martybegan]

Congress got the word from NASA on Tuesday about its options for dealing with the threats posed by asteroids and comets: Lawmakers can either provide adequate funding for detecting and characterizing near-Earth objects, and diverting them if necessary — or they can pray.

Threats from space are generally the stuff of science-fiction movies such as "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact," but members of the House Science Committee took a hard look at the realities during Tuesday's hearing, which came in response to the Feb. 15 meteor explosion over Russia as well as a close encounter that same day with a much bigger asteroid known as 2012 DA14.

The lawmakers didn't always like what they heard. The committee's chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, told the panelists more than once that the progress report they delivered was "not reassuring." But representatives from both parties were receptive to the idea of putting more resources into the effort to counter cosmic threats.

Congress hears options for asteroid defense: Pay now or pray later - Cosmic Log

It seems to have been going on for a while now...

NEO Discovery Statistics

All you have here is more people hoping for more funding for thier own work, and thus making doom and gloom predictions to keep the funding going.

Do we need funding for this? Yes. Do we need massive funding for this? No.

 

[konradv]

Funny how some of those Rs are worried about "cosmic threats" that are very unlikely, but call AGW a myth, despite the known properties of CO2 and the fact that we put more of it into the atmosphere in days than all the volcanoes on earth do in a normal year.

 

[martybegan]

Funny how some of those Rs are worried about "cosmic threats" that are very unlikely, but call AGW a myth, despite the known properties of CO2 and the fact that we put more of it into the atmosphere in days than all the volcanoes on earth do in a normal year.

A rock aimed at the earth is a provable threat with a determinate solution. Fluctuations in climate that may/could/should/wont cause drought/flooding/cooling/warming/dogs-cats living together/ unless we seceede more power to our fuzzy loving government is not a provable threat, but seems to have the same solution statists everywhere propose for everything.

 

[WorldWatcher]

Nothing can defend us from Asteroids. Deal with it.

Not really true.

Think for a moment if you will of a .50 cal rifle. If fired from 10 ft at the head of a subject, then there isn't much that can be done. On the other hand if the sniper is a 1,000 meters away, then the shooter has to take into account gravity, wind speed, their own breathing, etc. If there is even a light wind, it will push the bullet off target due to the small force (even though it is very small) exerted over a long time.

If a major asteroid is inside the orbit of the moon, then it becomes much more difficult. On the other hand if object is identified years before impact, then small amounts of thrust over a long period would be enough to shift it's orbit enough to cause it to miss.

Is it difficult? Yes. Is it (or will it be) technologically possible? Yes. Is it impossible? No.


>>>>

 

[konradv]

Funny how some of those Rs are worried about "cosmic threats" that are very unlikely, but call AGW a myth, despite the known properties of CO2 and the fact that we put more of it into the atmosphere in days than all the volcanoes on earth do in a normal year.

A rock aimed at the earth is a provable threat with a determinate solution. Fluctuations in climate that may/could/should/wont cause drought/flooding/cooling/warming/dogs-cats living together/ unless we seceede more power to our fuzzy loving government is not a provable threat, but seems to have the same solution statists everywhere propose for everything.

A provable threat? When is an extinction-level asteroid slated to hit earth? What's the solution, if one is headed our way? IMO, the danger is even more remote than the scientifically provable absorption of IR radiation by CO2 and its continuing increase in the atmosphere. The solutions to the potential problems are also on a very different order with those for an asteroid strike being very speculative and unproven. Those for AGW, on the other hand, are much more fleshed out. To me this just proves once again that the skepticism/denial regarding AGW is all about the politics and has very little to do with the actual science. You're downplaying and bashing the more likely scenario, while giving credence to the very unlikely possibility of a significant asteroid strike.

 

[Politico]

Not really true.

Think for a moment if you will of a .50 cal rifle. If fired from 10 ft at the head of a subject, then there isn't much that can be done. On the other hand if the sniper is a 1,000 meters away, then the shooter has to take into account gravity, wind speed, their own breathing, etc. If there is even a light wind, it will push the bullet off target due to the small force (even though it is very small) exerted over a long time.

So Bruce Willis.....

 

[WorldWatcher]

Not really true.

Think for a moment if you will of a .50 cal rifle. If fired from 10 ft at the head of a subject, then there isn't much that can be done. On the other hand if the sniper is a 1,000 meters away, then the shooter has to take into account gravity, wind speed, their own breathing, etc. If there is even a light wind, it will push the bullet off target due to the small force (even though it is very small) exerted over a long time.

So Bruce Willis.....

Actually, the Bruce Willis solution (ala Armageddon), setting off an large explosive (such as a nuclear weapon) could leave multiple large impact objects remaining on course for Earth impact. For a planet killer sized asteroid, the explosion would not make the matter disappear and it might leave large chucks remaining.



>>>>

 

[tjvh]

Who cares about asteroids? Bruce Willis will save us.

 

[martybegan]

Funny how some of those Rs are worried about "cosmic threats" that are very unlikely, but call AGW a myth, despite the known properties of CO2 and the fact that we put more of it into the atmosphere in days than all the volcanoes on earth do in a normal year.

A rock aimed at the earth is a provable threat with a determinate solution. Fluctuations in climate that may/could/should/wont cause drought/flooding/cooling/warming/dogs-cats living together/ unless we seceede more power to our fuzzy loving government is not a provable threat, but seems to have the same solution statists everywhere propose for everything.

A provable threat? When is an extinction-level asteroid slated to hit earth? What's the solution, if one is headed our way? IMO, the danger is even more remote than the scientifically provable absorption of IR radiation by CO2 and its continuing increase in the atmosphere. The solutions to the potential problems are also on a very different order with those for an asteroid strike being very speculative and unproven. Those for AGW, on the other hand, are much more fleshed out. To me this just proves once again that the skepticism/denial regarding AGW is all about the politics and has very little to do with the actual science. You're downplaying and bashing the more likely scenario, while giving credence to the very unlikely possibility of a significant asteroid strike.

No, I'm discounting a much more survivable scenario, which may happen anyway in a perfectly natural way, (and not in a direction you expect, we are due for an ice age by some calculations) vs. the kinetic energy and instantaneous destruction that an bolloid of significant size would cause.

Said tracking and planning to deflect said bolloid also does not require me giving my life over to the state, which is the preferred solution to global warming for "watermelons" such as yourself.

 

[Wyatt earp]

Funny how some of those Rs are worried about "cosmic threats" that are very unlikely, but call AGW a myth, despite the known properties of CO2 and the fact that we put more of it into the atmosphere in days than all the volcanoes on earth do in a normal year.

Very unlikely? Guess you never been to metor crater. An asteroid strike or the Super Volcano under Yellowstone erupts will probaly wipe us out before climate change does. So dont worry about it.