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NASA Forms New Planetary Defense Office To Manage Asteroid Threats (cnn.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the sky-is-falling dept.

An anonymous reader writes: NASA has set up a new Planetary Defense Coordination Office to detect and track near-Earth objects. CNN reports: "The department, which includes the position of Planetary Defense Officer, is managed by the Planetary Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. And its mission includes the early detection of potentially hazardous objects (PHOs) — asteroids and comets which get within 0.05 Astronomical Units of Earth's orbit around the sun (7.5 million kilometers) and are large enough, greater than around 30 — 50 meters (98 — 164 feet), to reach the Earth's surface." Bruce Willis had no comment on his level of involvement in the new agency.

41 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. A good start by XXongo · · Score: 3, Informative
    OK, having an office to track the potentially hazardous objects is a good start.

    Eventually, we'll also want to have capability to deal with them...

    1. Re:A good start by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      Instead of just making power points about them.

    2. Re:A good start by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      Cool - but with what?

      The tiny stuff could be nuked easily enough, but the really big stuff would just create a lot of really big (and now somewhat radioactive) rubble to carpet-bomb whatever place gets the impact.

      Most non-destructive solutions require enough forewarning to slowly nudge the rock out of Earth's way.

      I suspect that the only real long-term solution would be to put people off-earth in permanent colonies, enough to repopulate if need be. Then again, that carries its own potential problems as well.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    3. Re:A good start by Rei · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The tiny stuff could be nuked easily enough, but the really big stuff would just create a lot of really big (and now somewhat radioactive) rubble to carpet-bomb whatever place gets the impact.

      This is a common myth. The reality is that simulations show that nuclear weapons can readily both deflect large asteroids without destroying them, or alternatively destroy them into bits too small to pose a threat and with too much momentum to reform into a large impactor. And even if that wasn't the case, there's also significant dispute among experts to the popularly repeated concept that a bunch of small pieces are worse than one big piece, as smaller pieces come in at varying time and thus spread out the heat load, ejecta load, etc, experience more burnup, produce much less powerful tsunamis that don't "echo" around the Earth as much, etc.

      There's really no other option that has the sort of combination of A) near term technology, B) little lead time to deploy, C) minimal lead time required for effective deflection, D) low odds of failure, and E) capability of deflecting very large objects with small payloads - nuclear detonation, whether via standoff deflection or explosive disassembly, in is better than all or almost all competitors in every single category (kinetic impactors are slightly better in some categories but provide orders of magnitude less deflection capability for a given payload size)

      --
      He's the sort of person who would sell the Red Cross to Dracula.
    4. Re:A good start by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      When you're in the asteroid-deflecting business, lead time is everything. LONEOS was a good start, but our lomg-term existence may depend on being able to see deeper and deeper into the Oort Cloud.

    5. Re:A good start by lhowaf · · Score: 2

      Another obvious application for manned space flight!

    6. Re:A good start by plopez · · Score: 1

      Right which is why we need to build missile bases on the moon and Mars immediately

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    7. Re: A good start by Rei · · Score: 2

      We've already detonated over 2000 atomic bombs right here on Earth. The miniscule fraction of one bomb that might possibly return is pretty much irrelevant.

      --
      He's the sort of person who would sell the Red Cross to Dracula.
  2. Could we be certain enough by presidenteloco · · Score: 4, Insightful

    of impact of a really dangerous one

    in time to expend a lot of money on an active defense launch?
    (e.g. a launch of an ION thruster which would sit on the object and when at correct orientation, would fire to push it slowly into a safe trajectory)

    1. The farther out the object is, the less certain the prediction of Earth impact is.
    but
    2. The object has to be quite far out for active defense to work.

    Has anyone run the numbers on this?

    We seem to have a lot of trouble investing in EFFECTIVE levels of action on a certain unnamed problem that science is, say 97% certain is going to affect us.

    Assuming we had built one just in case,
    wouuld we send a $100 billion defense system out on a 1% chance of asteroid impact?
    10%? 50%? 90%? 97%? How about a 1/1000 chance? or 1/1000,000 chance of catastrophic impact?

    --

    Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
  3. A coordination office? Like that'll help by Virtucon · · Score: 2

    No authority, no resources to do something about it. It's just another "Hey look! we're doing something" office to soak up tax dollars. The feds are excellent about creating departments and positions that don't do anything.
     

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    1. Re: A coordination office? Like that'll help by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Naww, SpaceX is making the old NASA rapidly obsolete. In a decade, NASA will be out of the launch business, out of the space station business, and possibly out of the aeronautics research business. They don't want to just be the guys with planetary probes, so now they're going to try to move in on quiet Air Force territory. Never underestimate a bureaucrat facing budget cuts.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  4. These are the roids you are looking for by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Do we get to wear slick white body armor and talk through a gizmo that makes us sound like Jack-In-The-Box ordering stations?

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:These are the roids you are looking for by nytes · · Score: 1

      Yes, but your boss is going to be clad in black, and an overbearing ass who also likes to make "heavy breather" phone calls.

      --
      -- I have monkeys in my pants.
    2. Re:These are the roids you are looking for by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      So, same as now except I get to wear the slick white body armor and use the voice thing?

      I'm in.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:These are the roids you are looking for by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Amen!

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    4. Re:These are the roids you are looking for by nytes · · Score: 1

      *breathe in*
      *breathe out*

      So, what are you wearing? Is it tight?

      *breathe in*
      *breathe out*

      --
      -- I have monkeys in my pants.
  5. Ob by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    Look on the bright side. We'll all have high schools named after us.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  6. XCOM by wasteoid · · Score: 1

    The UFO defense clause gets added later, if it hasn't already been included into the charter.

    1. Re:XCOM by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      Moonbase, to Shado Control, Moonbase to Shado control. Now, to see the gorgeous chicks in purple wigs(*) (*) For those of you born before 1970., Google Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's TV show, UFO, done in the UK.

    2. Re:XCOM by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I'm trying to work out whether you meant after 1970, and I really can't. Time to stack them Zees, methinks.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    3. Re:XCOM by wyHunter · · Score: 1

      Sorry, you're right. I should have said 'If you were born before 1970 you may remember this show but after 1970 that's probably not as likely.'

  7. just turn the laser the other way and we can wipe by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    just turn the laser the other way and we can wipe out anyone we want.

  8. Re:A coordination office? Like that'll help by swb · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but it's a profit center. There are people literally willing to pay to work in exchange for the official title of "Planetary Defense Officer".

    You can walk into a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and tell them to pipe down, you're not working on national defense, you're working on planetary defense.

  9. Re:A coordination office? Like that'll help by Obfuscant · · Score: 1
    Just what I was thinking. A cushy job with a great title ("Planetary Defense Officer") that doesn't do anything.

    It reminds me of the ad by LifeLock where the guy in a bank in a security officer uniform tells people lying on the floor that he's not a security guard, he's just a security notifier. "I'm just here to tell people there's a robbery. There's a robbery".

    "I'm not here to defend you people against asteroids about to hit the earth, I'm just here to tell you to duck. Duck."

    Imagine in ten years this morphs into the Planetary Security Agency, with PSA agents and x-ray machines and anyone who jokes about an asteroid gets his asteroid inspected as a terrorist.

  10. A good idea by 110010001000 · · Score: 2

    The most dangerous asteroids are coming from the vicinity of Uranus. I hope they investigate them first.

    1. Re:A good idea by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      With any luck Elon Musk will provide the probe.

  11. Re:A coordination office? Like that'll help by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Yeah, because you totally wouldn't be able to fight the chicks off with a shit-smeared falchion.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  12. Re:Liberal Bias! by wyHunter · · Score: 1

    I daresay tons of them have hit us in this time too. Let's see, 1 cubic meter of rock is about, what, 2.5 tons?

  13. Re:just turn the laser the other way and we can wi by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

    ...who needs a laser? Just make sure the thing is big enough to obliterate The Enemy(tm), but small enough to not significantly wipe out Earth's ecosystem.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  14. Re:A coordination office? Like that'll help by blue9steel · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but it's a profit center. There are people literally willing to pay to work in exchange for the official title of "Planetary Defense Officer".

    I was just thinking how cool that would sound at parties.

  15. Asteroid versus Asteroid [Re:A good start] by XXongo · · Score: 1
    A bunch of ideas here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/el...

    I like the "asteroid versus asteroid" concept: to move one asteroid out of the way, just hit it with another (smaller) one.

  16. Obligatory by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 2

    The Bugs send another meteor our way!

    But this time we are ready!
    Planetary defenses are better than ever!
    Would you like to know more?

  17. Terrible marketing. by hey! · · Score: 3, Funny

    Planetary Defense Office? Really? About the only thing worse I can think to call it is the Planetary Defense Registry of Motor Vehicles..

    Here's how I'd sex up the presentation. I'd call it the Planetary Defense Force, issue snazzy uniforms and fund the program by selling T-shirts and caps. I feel certain that would raise far more money than Congress would ever appropriate for this purpose, except possibly in the event we noticed an asteroid that's actually going to hit us next Tuesday.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  18. Re:A coordination office? Like that'll help by MerlynEmrys67 · · Score: 1

    Like the post office that looses billions of dollars a year. The only other company so inept at wasting tax dollars as a "public" company is amtrack. Why not just ditch all of the unprofitable rail lines and keep the one line that makes money on the eastern seaboard.
    Trains just don't make sense for hauling people. Cheaper to fly and takes way less time

    --
    I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
  19. Re:A coordination office? Like that'll help by nytes · · Score: 1

    Trains just don't make sense for hauling people. Cheaper to fly and takes way less time

    It really depends on your priorities.

    My wife and I took the train from LA to San Francisco (the Coastal Starlight) a few years ago. We didn't have to take our shoes off before boarding, didn't go through metal detectors, and didn't have stand in long security lines while TSA agents screamed at us to make sure everything was put on the conveyor belt for X-raying.. One of the workers at the ticket window saw us with our luggage and loaded it on an electric cart, then told us to hop on and she'd take us to the boarding area.

    While the rest of our family were crammed into two cars with all of their luggage, screaming up the I-5 (freeway), we were sitting in recliner seats with as much legroom as you could use, getting up to get snacks and stretch our legs, reading, and going to the observation car to hear a talk about the area we were traveling through by a forest ranger.

    We also happened to be traveling on the Fourth of July, and hit Silicon Valley right at 9:00PM. The lights were off in the observation car and we got to watch dozens of fireworks shows happening all around us.

    I'd do it again in a heartbeat, if I needed to go to North again.

    --
    -- I have monkeys in my pants.
  20. Cool name. Invite William Shatner by dwheeler · · Score: 1

    I think "Planetary Defense Office" is a cool name. Someone should invite William Shatner.

    --
    - David A. Wheeler (see my Secure Programming HOWTO)
    1. Re:Cool name. Invite William Shatner by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      As long as he's not the one issuing the warning.

      An ... asteroid ... has ... been ... det[KABOOOM!]

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  21. Homing Beacon? by ThePromenader · · Score: 1

    I'm wondering how they're going to 'patrol' the galaxy for 'incomings'. I suppose incoming-light imagery wouldn't be enough, and it would take a periodic certain-frequency multidirectional 'wave blast', to pick up its return reflecting from anything hiding out there... great way to announce our presence, too.

    Or am I thinking too much again?

    --

    No, no sig. Really.

    ThePromenader
  22. Re:just turn the laser the other way and we can wi by tnk1 · · Score: 1

    Terrorism is a threat.

    However, we don't nor should we shovel our entire budget at it. I think we have adequate money going against terrorists, if we increased the efficiency of the spending, we'd probably even be able to cut the budget and get the same result.

    Bringing some telescopes, studying nuclear delivery systems, and setting up coordination is not a bad use of a few tens of millions of dollars.

  23. Re:A coordination office? Like that'll help by tnk1 · · Score: 1

    You know, you shouldn't mind, if your asteroid has nothing to hide, planetary citizen.

  24. Re:A coordination office? Like that'll help by Coren22 · · Score: 1

    The post office isn't in control of the prices it charges. Haven't you noticed how much cheaper it is to send a package through USPS as opposed to FedEx and UPS? This is because Congress controls their prices and refuses to let them raise them to cover cost increases.

    Amtrak is in the same spot, congress mandates the unprofitable lines and forces them to run them despite the lack of riders.

    Also, it isn't possible to loose billions of dollars, it isn't an animal that you let loose. You can lose money though.

    --
    APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?