Assessing Asteroid Threat

Makarand writes "According to a proposal submitted to the European Space Agency a fleet of five mini-probes should be sent each targeting an asteroid considered potentially dangerous. The mission objective will be to learn more about dangerous near earth objects so that we can plan how best to respond when under threat. Once in space, the probes would use ion propulsion engines that provide thrust by shooting out a stream of electrically charged particles. Power for the ion engines would be provided by ultra-lightweight solar arrays. Each probe will carry instrumentation to learn about the physical and chemical make-up of the target. The mission would cost around $150 mil which is quite low according to space mission standards."

Comments

Re:How do you assess the threat?

[Bowie J. Poag]

Yup. Youre a moron. Thanks for saving me the effort there, Tolstoy. Look out for that Shuttle debris!! Its TOXIC!

Re:optimistic fools!

[UTPinky]

I'd prefer as Baby-Bush would say, "Your government is alert that Evil Asteroids still lurk out there, and that we must work to rid this universe of the evil-doers."