Nasa could land probe on asteroid hurtling towards Earth
39 replies, posted
[quote]Asteroid 1999 RQ36, which has a one-in-1,000 chance of hitting the Earth before the year 2200, would cause an explosion equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs detonating at once.
An analysis of its orbit has predicted that it is most likely to hit us on September 24, 2182 but scientists want to collect a sample of the rock to help forecast its trajectory more accurately.If Nasa gives the plan the green light, the spacecraft would blast off in 2106 to map out and collect rock samples from the asteroid, which is 1,800 feet-wide.
The planned mission, called OSIRIS-Rex, is one of two finalists in competition for funding as part of the cash-strapped US space agency’s New Frontiers program.
The other contender is a mission to land on Venus. The competing plans will come under discussion at a two-day Nasa workshop in Washington DC starting on today. The winner will be announced next year.
Nasa has officially classified RQ36 as a ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’ as it passes within about 280,000 miles of Earth. Its orbit, which brings it closer to Earth, makes it easier to reach than other asteroids.
Michael Drake, who would lead the OSIRIS-Rex team if the project was chosen, said: “Being one of the easiest targets to get to coincidentally means that it also can easily hit us, too.”
Clark Chapman, a planetary scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said an impact from RQ36 would cause a catastrophic explosion.
“It would be an enormous impact, like hundreds of the biggest nuclear bombs ever built exploding at once, creating a crater maybe 10 kilometers across,” he told National Geographic magazine.
An expert panel appointed by Barack Obama, the US president, to assess Nasa’s future space programme last year recommended bypassing the Moon in favour of a mission to land on an unidentified asteroid.
The plan mirrors the plot of the 1998 Hollywood film Deep Impact, in which the White House sends a spaceship to land on an asteroid which is hurtling towards the Earth.
The European Space Agency announced in 2008 that it plans to select a small asteroid, less than 0.6 miles across, near Earth and send a spacecraft to drill for dust and rubble for analysis.[/quote]
[url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7936145/Nasa-could-land-probe-on-asteroid-hurtling-towards-Earth.html[/url]
I know that film...
By 2106 I hope we're at the stages of ME2 :science:
i'll be long dead, so i won't really mind tbh
Whatever they decide to do, in a decade whoever takes over in a decade will change the plan to something else and scrap this, then in another decade it will happen again, and again.
I'm glad I'll be dead before it hits.
By the time this hits, we'll probably have the technology to either A) survive with relatively little casualties, or B) destroy it.
[QUOTE=DrBreen;23959532]i'll be long dead, so i won't really mind tbh[/QUOTE]
that's a selfish approach to life.
[QUOTE=Melnek;23959800]that's a selfish approach to life.[/QUOTE]
It's not like he can do anything else.
Destroying an asteroid isn't easy.
Surviving a hit from them isn't exactly easy either.
Atleast we are trying to do something about it.
[QUOTE=Melnek;23959800]that's a selfish approach to life.[/QUOTE]
No, it's ignorant, not selfish.
[QUOTE=Simples;23959896]Atleast we are trying to do something about it.[/QUOTE]
Well there are no methods that are actually worth while.
If we find an asteroid that's going to hit us in any less than 10 years we're shafted.
Unless we cover have the earth with mirrors to focus sunlight onto the asteroid to slightly knock it off course.
Let's mine it before it hits guys.
Build a laser defence shield, send a probe with a nuke that automatically drills to the 'roid's core, watch fireworks.
[editline]03:49PM[/editline]
:science:
[QUOTE]nuke that automatically drills to the 'roid's core[/QUOTE]
Why do people think this would work? :byodood:
Now you have a lovely shower of slightly smaller chunks flying at you even faster.
[img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/rating/book_error.png[/img] x1
[quote]Build a laser defence shield[/quote]
And no, I did not mean a "shield" in the "normal" meaning, but in the same way as the missile shield by US near Russia or where ever.
[editline]04:02PM[/editline]
:science:
[QUOTE=bravehat;23960132]Why do people think this would work? :byodood:
Now you have a lovely shower of slightly smaller chunks flying at you even faster.[/QUOTE]
which are more likely to burn up in the atmosphere
[QUOTE=Mr.Dounut;23959525]By 2106 I hope we're at the stages of ME2 :science:[/QUOTE]
We gonna send probes everywhere.
[QUOTE=Killerjc;23960281]which are more likely to burn up in the atmosphere[/QUOTE]
You seem to be under the impression that these will be small chunks.
They won't be.
If it's big enough to pose a threat to the earth then here's what will happen if it is detonated with a nuke.
It splits, and doesn't get thrown away from the other pieces, they sit with each other and get caught in the earths gravity well and slowly fall towards us. These are still gonna be really big chunks of rock still clumped together by gravity, loosely held to each other falling on earth.
So instead of one big rock we have a few slightly smaller rocks carpet bombing us.
Gee great idea sir that'll sure save us.
Or we could do this.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_tractor[/url]
I read "Nazis could land probe on asteroid hurtling towards Earth".
[QUOTE=bravehat;23961522]You seem to be under the impression that these will be small chunks.
They won't be.
If it's big enough to pose a threat to the earth then here's what will happen if it is detonated with a nuke.
It splits, and doesn't get thrown away from the other pieces, they sit with each other and get caught in the earths gravity well and slowly fall towards us. These are still gonna be really big chunks of rock still clumped together by gravity, loosely held to each other falling on earth.
So instead of one big rock we have a few slightly smaller rocks carpet bombing us.
Gee great idea sir that'll sure save us.
Or we could do this.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_tractor[/url][/QUOTE]
In that case, why not send more than 1 nuke? We have 30,000 in the world so that wouldn't be a problem.
Because then the massive EMP above the earth will fry all the electronics on earth.
Even one at the right height would shaft america.
It's a fucking retarded idea that means we get radioactive fallout and a massive EMP for all our troubles.
It's easier to fire lasers at it to slowly nudge it out the path of the earth or use a gravitational tractor.
[QUOTE=bravehat;23962738]Because then the massive EMP above the earth will fry all the electronics on earth.
Even one at the right height would shaft america.
It's a fucking retarded idea that means we get radioactive fallout and a massive EMP for all our troubles.
It's easier to fire lasers at it to slowly nudge it out the path of the earth or use a gravitational tractor.[/QUOTE]
Or attach a sail to it and shoot it with laser.
[QUOTE=DrBreen;23959532]i'll be long dead, so i won't really mind tbh[/QUOTE]
This is why this species is doomed.
[QUOTE=cyanidem;23959902]No, it's ignorant, not selfish.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Melnek;23959800]that's a selfish approach to life.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Occlusion;23963436]This is why this species is doomed.[/QUOTE]
really? it's not like me him and you three could do anything and we'll be long dead before it hits or when they fire a lazer at it or some shit and i don't think that anyone born from 1980-2000 era will still be alive by then that's still 190~ish years away
[QUOTE=Mr.Dounut;23959525]By 2106 I hope we're at the stages of ME2 :science:[/QUOTE]
Asari hookers for everyone! :awesome:
[QUOTE=Mr.Dounut;23959525]By 2106 I hope we're at the stages of ME2 :science:[/QUOTE]
Our grand children, only. :sigh:
If we for some reason can not stop it and we are sure it's going to hit Earth, let's hope it hits in a place where no one lives like the Tunguska event.
Still I'm pretty confident we'll have what we need to stop it in 100 years if it is going to hit us.
[QUOTE=Reborn9;23963352]Or attach a sail to it and shoot it with laser.[/QUOTE]
Or land a rocket engine on it and drive it off course.
There's lot's of options besides nuke it, I'm guessing in 100 years we'll have more options.
[editline]05:38PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Mr. Clipper;23963980]Our grand children, only. :sigh:[/QUOTE]
Maybe if we are lucky nano-technology will evolve to the point where we can implement nanobots that can repair and regenerate cells on our body during our life time, it would gives us a huge boost in lifespan if not actual immortality.
By the time that asteroid approaches Earth, we would already develop something to destroy it, a laser weapon or something like that. While I may be dead by that time, my children would hopefully be around that time, and if not my children, then my grand children would.
I hope that asteroid hits Earth
That'll show those people in the future for being smarter and more advanced that us and shit
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