• Russia sending spacecraft to knock out Earth-Killing Asteroid
    189 replies, posted
Why are the Russians the only ones concerned about this?
[QUOTE=Klammyxxl;19344419]Why are the Russians the only ones concerned about this?[/QUOTE] because with a 1 in 45,000 chance, this thing will most certainly hit us! Seriously, though, 200 million dollars or so seems like a small investment to avoid a small chance of the entire planet being obliterated. Honestly, what else will we be doing other than killing each other?
The world will look up and shout "save us" and the Russians whisper....... aim for the US.
[QUOTE=hypno-toad;19344244]Knowing Russia they'll probably just make shit worse. remember how they fucked up the space station?[/QUOTE] How do you know russia?
Projected course of asteroid after successful deflection mission: [img]http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/6417/winkeltripelprojection.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=DrLuke;19304240]That's the problem right there, it's like 30% of the line is in Russia. That's why the US don't want to do anything about it.[/QUOTE] Maybe if their was a recalculation. "Sir, we have new calculations of Apophis path." "It couldn't be that ba- oh shit." [media]http://www.cubeupload.com/files/71600ohshi.jpg[/media]
[QUOTE=hypno-toad;19344443]because with a 1 in 45,00 chance, this thing will most certainly hit us! Seriously, though, 200 million dollars or so seems like a small investment to avoid a small chance of the entire planet being obliterated. Honestly, what else will we be doing other than killing each other?[/QUOTE] In my personal experience it seems to me when something disastrous has a realistic probability of Pr(x), then the universe will end up making the probability 1-Pr(x) just to fuck with us. The universe has a cruel sense of humour and loves irony.
[QUOTE=sltungle;19344113]I'd opt for blowing up a significantly large asteroid if it was CERTAIN that it was on a collision course and we had no other options (like attaching a huge solar sail to it, or sticking huge, powerful thrusters on it). ...[/QUOTE] Which would of course do nothing to prevent any damage. It takes lots of energy to actually blow an asteroid up, and conventional explosives don't work so well in a vacuum. Breaking an asteroid apart without changing it's orbit means it'll still hit the earth, but now there are more fragments hitting the Earth (yay for atmospheric heating) The only option we really have is altering it's orbit (Need thrusters that give out a constantly supply of energy over a long period of time, like the Ion thrusters people are working on)
[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;19346839]Which would of course do nothing to prevent any damage. It takes lots of energy to actually blow an asteroid up, and conventional explosives don't work so well in a vacuum. Breaking an asteroid apart without changing it's orbit means it'll still hit the earth, but now there are more fragments hitting the Earth (yay for atmospheric heating) The only option we really have is altering it's orbit (Need thrusters that give out a constantly supply of energy over a long period of time, like the Ion thrusters people are working on)[/QUOTE] So you're saying that if an asteroid that would cause mass extinction, probably wiping out more than half of the life on the planet, was on a definite collision course with us, and we exhausted ALL options except one final one which would be to dig a hole deep down into the asteroid and then drop something like a 50 megaton nuke into it (or put several of them in the surface in a ring around the asteroid)... you would be against it? Most of the chunks, as has been established, would burn up either completely, or to a size that's small enough to cause no major damage, and, at any rate, even if there WERE a few small chunks left they wouldn't cause nearly as much combined damage as a single ELE. Wouldn't you rather a few localized Tunguska event type things happen than the bad boy that caused the KT boundary?
Well, you haven't stopped any damage, the rock with all it's mass and kinetic energy still hits the Earth, now it's just no longer localised to one part of the surface. And when the rocks vaporise in the atmosphere, they heat the surrounding atmosphere, lots and lots of rocks burning up in the atmosphere over a wide area heats that area up to high temperatures, which is bad for anything on the ground.
[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;19347059]Well, you haven't stopped any damage, the rock with all it's mass and kinetic energy still hits the Earth, now it's just no longer localised to one part of the surface. And when the rocks vaporise in the atmosphere, they heat the surrounding atmosphere, lots and lots of rocks burning up in the atmosphere over a wide area heats that area up to high temperatures, which is bad for anything on the ground.[/QUOTE] So is the sun being blocked out for years. However there WOULD be less overall mass if we used a nuke (not literally, it'd still be there, but a large portion of the asteroid would be vapourised and would become harmless (and things in space take a long time to cool down, so it's doubtful it would coalesce again anytime soon). I suppose either way we lose. Which way in the end gives life a better chance, though?
Neither way has a better chance of survival since you haven't gotten rid of any of the mass. The only way to stop the damage, is to stop it impacting the Earth entirely, changing the shape it's in when it hits doesn't change it's potential energy.
[QUOTE=Tu154M;19300030]Let's blow that fucker up. :frogc00l:[/QUOTE] Yeah because even if the big bugger would have managed to fly by earth harmlessly the little pieces of it flying in every direction will definitely cheer everyone's day.
[QUOTE=Jakobi;19301200]1000 is a bit of an understatement.[/QUOTE] Actually, considering this asteroid is just a couple hundred meters across, it might be an overstatement.
I guess NASA better start planning on knocking the asteroid out of course once the Russians knock it INTO course! Hollywood also will have to start writing scripts for Armageddon 2!
[QUOTE=sltungle;19347191]So is the sun being blocked out for years. However there WOULD be less overall mass if we used a nuke (not literally, it'd still be there, but a large portion of the asteroid would be vapourised and would become harmless (and things in space take a long time to cool down, so it's doubtful it would coalesce again anytime soon). I suppose either way we lose. Which way in the end gives life a better chance, though?[/QUOTE] Nukes don't vaporise rock. Besides, nuclear explosions aren't exactly well-controlled, especially if you stick one on an asteroid in space somewhere. Imagine if the nuke just cracked the asteroid into three or four large chunks, that wouldn't really be all that much better.
[QUOTE=Dr Nick;19333547][img]http://www.tvsa.co.za/images/actors/s/stormare_peter_big.jpg[/img] "I am the only certified astronaut. And I'm saving your American ass!"[/QUOTE] He's swedish.
[QUOTE=Lord Hayden;19344262]Since when?! Oh well, America will just fix things like they always do...[/QUOTE] Like the challenger! oh :C [editline]08:36PM[/editline] haha, America fixing things how comical.
[QUOTE=Turnips5;19300058]By astronomical standards, it's a frigging huge chance.[/QUOTE] Actually 1 in 45,000 is astronomically small. YEEEEAAAAHHHHH.
Thank god the estimated arrival year is 2029/2036/2068,not any time in 2012. The mayans got the timing wrong. :smug:
[QUOTE=hypno-toad;19344443]because with a [B]1 in 45,00[/B] chance, this thing will most certainly hit us! Seriously, though, 200 million dollars or so seems like a small investment to avoid a small chance of the entire planet being obliterated. Honestly, what else will we be doing other than killing each other?[/QUOTE] [I]That is a huuuuge fucking chance. [/I] :smug:
this reminds me of this novel I read where not just one, but about a dozen nukes were sent to destroy a group of three asteroids from destroying earth. and then King Ghidorah came out of the asteroids and proceeded to Fuck Shit Up. it was a Godzilla Novel. I like Godzilla. =(
[img]http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsS/16620-23990.gif[/img] I never saw Star Wars.
[QUOTE=Identity;19300710]Aim it towards North Korea. They had it coming. (And yes, I know the impact will likely send up so much debris in the air to block out the sun, drop the water's pH levels, and set fire to everything within a 1000 mile radius,[b]and totally wipe out the whole of life on earth, not just as we know it,[/b] but that's an acceptable loss.)[/QUOTE] Fixed that for ya chief
[QUOTE=JordaNN;19300035]1 in 45,000 is pretty unlikely, why are they even doing anything.[/QUOTE] Winning the lottery is even more unlikely and it happens anyways :v:
If it turns out this thing isn't coming for us and they knock it into our direction I'm gonna be pissed
I think The Dig will become real if the news about the water planet is related to this one.
[QUOTE=Uber|nooB;19353628]Nukes don't vaporise rock. Besides, nuclear explosions aren't exactly well-controlled, especially if you stick one on an asteroid in space somewhere. Imagine if the nuke just cracked the asteroid into three or four large chunks, that wouldn't really be all that much better.[/QUOTE] I'm pretty sure they vapourise any rock in the immediate area. As in: in the fireball. There's pictures of the aftermath of a nuclear explosion in which huge rocks have been reduced to dust. I see you're point if it was broken up into only a handful of smaller chunks instead of hundreds or thousands of them, though. That could be worse.
There wouldn't be a fireball, space is a vacuum. It'd throw out a lot of radiation along the spectrum, and produce some heat, but it'd behave radically different to what it would do on Earth (vacuum vs. atmosphere) The US have detonated nuclear bombs very high up, where the atmosphere is very thin (so you're "close" to a vacuum), it lit up the atmosphere (artificial aurora) and messed with ground based electronics and satellites (Electro-Magnetic Pulse), but no fire or shockwave or anything physically destructive. Edit: You'd probably have better luck drilling down to the core of the asteroid and stuffing it with conventional explosives, of course that doesn't actually do anything to reduce the danger, it just makes for a Sci-Fi movie with an Aerosmith song and Bruce Willis.
[QUOTE=Technopath;19361128]Winning the lottery is even more unlikely and it happens anyways :v:[/QUOTE] But has it happened to you?
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