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NASA Can't Pay for Killer Asteroid Hunt

CGISecurity.com writes "NASA officials say the space agency is capable of finding nearly all the asteroids that might pose a devastating hit to Earth, but there isn't enough money to pay for the task so it won't get done. 'We know what to do, we just don't have the money,' said Simon 'Pete' Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center." But hey, it's just the potential end of the world, so nothing much to worry about there.

8 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Lets assume they had the funding by Zeek40 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd certainly like to know. I've got a decent chunk of change sitting in my retirement accounts that i could throw one hell of a world-ending party with.

  2. You call that a state? by RobertB-DC · · Score: 5, Funny

    The explosion alone could have with the power of 100 million tons of dynamite, enough to devastate an entire state, such as Maryland, they said.

    Maryland? Here in Texas, we call that a "county". Call me when you have something that can devastate a real state.

    --
    Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  3. Hm. Nice planet. Shame if anything happened to it. by andreamer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I like the part where they say... "enough to devastate an entire state, such as Maryland"

    "Oh, not that we'd WANT anything to happen to Maryland, Congress. No. But, you know, sometimes things go wrong. Especially when NASA doesn't get funding. It makes NASA so disappointed when it doesn't get funding, and when you're disappointed, you sometimes don't look so hard for killer asteroids. You know how it is."

  4. Re:About $1 Billion by Kadin2048 · · Score: 4, Funny

    In my opinion, all NASA needs to do is present congress with a scientific statistic claim with percent confidence of global destruction. If we have craters on our planet & there are bones of things that shouldn't have died lying all around, I'm guessing they could place something like a 1% chance of a decent sized asteroid hitting us within a couple thousand years. Given that information, $1 billion may not seem like a bad idea considering most of us employ smoke detectors with even less risk of harm/loss to us.

    This sounds like an entirely rational, sensible argument. As a result, I predict that it will have absolutely zero effect on anyone in Congress.

    As an alternative, I suggest you come up with some "evidence" suggesting that an asteroid impact would transform their children into mutants, preferably homosexual ones; or, that the asteroids are a Arab Terrorist Plot. Double points if the asteroid is Mexican.

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  5. Hope the MPAA doesn't see this by penguinbrat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Quota from Armageddon - "No offense General, but it's a big ass sky..."

  6. Re:About $1 Billion by geoffspear · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's just more proof that we don't have to do anything... There's still exactly as much life on Jupiter now as there was before it was hit; therefore if the Earth is hit by a similar-sized object, life will survive just fine. Q.E.D.

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    Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
  7. Re:Why would that be the case? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 4, Funny

    That would never work. Didn't you ever see "Armageddon"? That explains it all! It's the difference between holding a firecracker in an open hand versus a clenched fist. If you just throw nukes at a killer asteroid, it's not disintegrating, you're just breaking off small chunks. What you need is a tight-knit, highly competent, yet maverick and juvenile sea platform drilling crew so you can train them as astronauts, and launch them into space so they can embed the nukes in the asteroid's core and blow it to bits!

    --
    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  8. What about Halliburton? by peacefinder · · Score: 4, Funny

    Doesn't Halliburton do asteroid diversion?

    --
    With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd