Can NASA, Air Force, and Private Industry Really Mitigate an Asteroid Threat?

coondoggie writes "There has been much chatter about the threat of an asteroid or significant meteor strike on Earth — mostly caused by the untracked meteor that blasted its way to international attention when it exploded in the sky above Russia injuring nearly 1,200 people in February. It was one of those amazing coincidences that on that same day an asteroid NASA had been tracking for months — asteroid 2012 DA14 — was to harmlessly cross Earth's path. Those events and the topic of mitigating asteroid and meteor or Near Earth Object threats to Earth prompted a couple congressional hearings by the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, the latest of which was held this week. None of the NEOs found to date have more than a tiny chance of hitting Earth in the next century. Thus the near-term risk of an unwarned impact from large asteroids, and hence the majority of the risk from all NEOs, has been reduced by more than 90%. Assuming none are found to be an impact threat, discovering 90% of the 140 meter sized objects will further reduce the total risk to the 99% level. By finding these objects early enough and tracking their motions over the next 100 years, even those rare objects that might be found threatening could be deflected using existing technologies."

Comments

hypothesis

[Trepidity]

Big meteors only explode over Russia, if I'm extrapolating correctly from n=2. Therefore they should pay for it.

Re:hypothesis

[Fluffeh]

Oh my goodness, a chance to actualy use a In Soviet Russia joke appropriately!!

In Soviet Russia, Meteor Finds YOU!

Yes, it's pretty straight forward too

[DoofusOfDeath]

When there's an incoming asteroid, use a rocket to place a USB stick on it loaded with copyrighted material.

Within 2 hours, it's trajectory will be altered by the mass of the layers and federal agents swarming it.

Re:Yes, it's pretty straight forward too

[kaychoro]

They've already tried this... that's why the meteors always hit Russia... that's where copyrighted material always ends up.

Re:The long-period comet problem

[SJHillman]

Personally, I think flying sharks with lasers is a more viable option than most people give it credit for.

Re:The long-period comet problem

[Anonymous Coward]

How many nukes would it take to scatter a comment into less-harmful pieces?

Depends on how high it's been modded.

better hypothesis...

[NemoinSpace]

Most species becomes space faring, the smart ones like Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal leave as soon as they can. The reason we don't hear from anyone else is because they put up warning signs.
You don't need fancy theories to explain why every other object in the universe is fleeing from us.

Re:The long-period comet problem

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a small margin between asteroid strikes that require hiding out in shelters to survive, and asteroid strikes that lead to widespread ecosystem collapse, killing nearly everyone in the long term anyway.

But don't let that stop you from trying! -- Vault-Tec

Re:The long-period comet problem

[crutchy]

Medusa

you just bent over and dropped your pants there didn't you sunshine

Re:The long-period comet problem

[wagnerrp]

The LASERs were solar, and the debris cloud circling the Earth following the impact meant sharks had no way to power them. Being temporarily useless, they were discarded for the extra mobility.