B612 Foundation and 2004 YD5 Asteroid Capture?

aisnota writes "The B612 Foundation hopes to alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner by 2015 and seems ready to do the obvious and capture 2004 YD5. Slice it up, put the pieces into aerobrake containers like a simplified version of the Mars landers. Then just sell the pieces on EBay to fund more ambitious projects."

Comments

Extortion for fun or profit.

[Anonymous Coward]

If they can alter orbit that much, perhaps they could threaten to crash it into earth and hold the world ransom for one meeeelion dollars.

You can do it EEEeeebay

[Eric(b0mb)Dennis]

Heh, I tried selling pieces of an 'asteroid' on ebay before, too!

When the buyer found out that it was just rocks from my back yard, he was pretty heated! Damn you B612 for stealing

Non-effective name

[Jon Abbott]

How do they expect to be taken seriously with a name like B612 Foundation? I propose the alternative name "`Shit! Shit! The Meteors are Coming!' Foundation" instead.

Who owns it if it lands in my backyard?

[LazyNerd]

So they slice it up and it comes back to Earth, but it doesn't land where they want it. What if it lands in my backyard? Can I sell it? See, they haven't even done it yet and now we need a lawyer!

WAAAAAIIIIIT a second here...

[Bifster]

Let's see, a bunch of amatures want to deflect an asteroit [b][i]toward[/i][/b] the earth??? And then they wanna start de-orbiting pieces of it?!

Argh! Spidey sense tingling! Sense danger somewhere...

Re:dropping the parts onto Earth doesn't work

[j1bb3rj4bb3r]

Lawyer-seeking containers. Problem solved.

Sounds like a great James Bond Plot

[mikejz84]

A evil madman has an astrorid in earth orbit holding the world ransom for $10 Trillion dollars or else he deorbits it over Washington DC and wipe out the entire US and Europe. Even evil madmen need to test the technology and raise venture capitial...

Re:Feeling of Uninformed-ness

[andreMA]

They've already ruled out nuclear devices in any use

What a relief. We all know how easy it is for private non-profits to take the "easy way" out and light off a few nuclear weapons.

Have they ruled out using witchcraft as well?

There are people trying to do this...

[humuhumunukunukuapu']

which could devastate a large populated area if they make a teeny tiny error, I dunno, say they use metric instead of imperial or maybe put a screw on backwards [cough cough NASA cough cough]

yet Cat Stevens is the real danger to the world.

A well punded project

[asliarun]

Perhaps it would be simpler to download Back Orifice and "hack" the asteroid, a la Independance Day.

After all, it's an ass-steroid, right?

Re:dropping the parts onto Earth doesn't work

[Rick Genter]

How the heck do they expect to get them back?

Each container has etched into its side:

Please return to:

B612 Foundation
125 Red Hill Circle
Tiburon, CA 94920

Postage guaranteed.

Don't be silly

[LiquidCoooled]

The chances of them pulling this off are 1/233.
Oh wait, now its 1/45.
Hang on, odds have changed again 1/56000....