Slashdot Mirror
White House Releases Strategy To Defend Against Killer Asteroids (vice.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: On December 30, the White House quietly released its Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy, a 25-page document outlining the United States' plans in the event that a giant asteroid is found to be on a collision course with Earth. Among the priorities outlined by the strategy are improving Near-Earth Object (NEO) detection, developing methods for deflecting asteroids, and developing interagency emergency procedures in the event of an NEO impact. Given the stakes, it's clear why NASA and the leading US defense and research agencies came together in January 2016 to form the Detecting and Mitigating the Impact of Earth-bound Near-Earth Objects (DAMIEN) working group to address the issues associated with killer asteroids. The DAMIEN group is behind the White House's new NEO strategy, and will be responsible for hashing out the specifics of the plan to save Earthlings from killer asteroids going forward. To assist in the search, the DAMIEN report calls for a space-based observatory dedicated to finding NEOs, which will work in cooperation with ground-based observatories. Since a telescope in space isn't limited by terrestrial weather conditions, it would greatly enhance Spaceguard's search capacity. The only plans currently underway for a space-based NEO telescope are being carried out by the non-profit B612 foundation whose Sentinel telescope was supposed to launch last December, but has been delayed due to difficulties securing the requisite $450 million in funding required for the project. NASA has also been considering the NEOCam, a space-based telescope that has received provisional funding for "detailed refinement." Unfortunately, during the latest round of budgeting for NASA's Discovery program, two other satellites were greenlit instead of NEOCam, but NASA said it would continue the asteroid-hunter's provisional funding, so there is still hope that NASA may go forward with a space-based NEO observatory in the future, especially in light of the recent White House strategy. In tandem, the report also recommends updating the capabilities of ground-based NEO observatories by endowing them with more powerful planetary radars and improved spectroscopy instruments (this would allow for more accurate determinations of the composition of an asteroid). But detection is only half the battle. In the event that an asteroid is found to be on an impact trajectory with Earth, NASA is also thinking about ways to deflect the killer asteroid. Some pretty far-out ideas have been proposed on this front, ranging from nukes in space to giant sun-powered lasers, but the most likely method is simply ramming into the asteroid to change its course. Finally, should all else fail, the report also considers what to do in an impact scenario.
Great, now the damned asteroids know how to evade our defenses! Brilliant!
Killer asteroids are a Chinese conspiracy to make America weak, I know because my national security advisor and Russia Today co-host told me.
Falcon 9 Heavy loaded with NUKES!!
Because of Trump and Putin and the Pepe the Frog an asteroid is going to slam into the earth the day after the inauguration and kill us all in a fiery holocaust. Thanks racist, misogynist, whateverelseist rednecks.
There, now that's out of the way,
Killer Asteroid, coming SOEN.
OLD PLAN: Send a team of oil workers led by Bruce Willis into space with nukes, and wait until the last possible second before detonating the bombs.
NEW PLAN: Build a space wall around Earth, and make the aliens pay for it.
Within the next 30 years, P(asteroid smashes Earth) << P(nuclear conflict)
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
We could double or triple down by bringing multiple asteroids into orbit. First to mine for minerals. Second as a cheap scaffold for a space station. Third as an earth shield provided that the rockets used to bring it into orbit are powerful enough or have been upgraded so that it can be moved to the right location within 3 weeks. It can absorb energy from the impact and will probably have bombs perfectly set in place to self destruct just in case it's gets deflected at earth.
Very good idea. Having half a dozen large asteroids in orbit along with the multiple uses will make this very practical.
I'm the the strategy was longer then 140 characters
What if America can't stop the asteroid from hitting the earth, but can stop it from hitting the United States (or close strategic ally)? Other countries may want to invest in their versions of this.
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
In case a 'big' asteroid hits the ocean (70% chance), it 'll create a giant tsunami, and because 100+ of the world Nuclear plants are located close to the oceans ...the indirect long-term after-effects could be devastating.
Build a wall and make the aliens pay for it!
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
Paul Ryan will hold a press release where he announces that the republicans are against the plan, that this is too massive an expansion of government and the presidential overreach by trying to impose his will on asteroids without any constitutional right to look up at the sky.
In 20 days Trump will either scrap the plan, or keep it, if he keeps it - Ryan will pretend it was his idea all along.
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
Just when we needed a killer asteroid, they make a plan to stop one. Figures.
Too bad they couldn't figure out how to stop a killer ass droid. Instead, they're turning the running of the government over to him.
I hope they have that shadow-government thing up and running, ready to do the actual running of the country, while the serial liar and fake rich asshole thinks he's doing it. That's really our only hope.
Since the report came from the Obama White House, I'm surprised one of the options wasn't weaponizing the asteroid.
(||) Nehmo (||)
Nonsense like this should be issued by the "rearranging-the-deckchairs-on-the-titanic-dept"
We'll discover a massive killer asteroid and spend a couple of weeks arguing about how to deal with it. Russia will act on its own and launch a couple of nukes which will break it into three smaller killer asteroids. The governments will spend the remaining time at the UN trying to punish Russia for sending the nukes but they keep using their veto.
With hours left for humanity a large two dimensional hollow triangle appears above the planet, shoots the asteroids until they are harmless dust particles, and then pops out of existence.
The summary says
If you have a 200m asteroid that's the same as 60 times 50m asteroids, each enough to wipe out a large city. You generally don't want to break up an asteroid and turn it into giant buckshot, with pieces covering a wide area. Also in order to change momentum considerably you'd need to find another small asteroid to pull into a collision course because a missile is not going to do anything. So I checked the links. This is not the design they have in mind. All I see is that they want to try ramming it with a projectile just to see what happens, not in order to deflect it. See how loosely packed an asteroid is for instance. I can imagine trying to find out how strong an asteroid is before starting to mess around with it.
The actual design they'll have to use is to push the dangerous asteroid over a very long time, starting a long time in advance. And since the asteroid is usually rotating it would have to be cleverly timed pushing as well.
Get bent out of shape to kiss your ass goodbye.
Also works for the new nuclear arms race.
I call it "extreme asteroid vetting"
Gently reply
Here's what would happen if they found one on an actual collision course, administration be damned. This is a very good story, but if you're in a hurry, find: "brusquely". I doubt that Bruce Willis could actually do that much.
The premise is different obviously, but the human panic and destruction would be similar. Nature would provide much more fireworks than humans though. Maybe those SHTF bunkers might be useful after all!
Oh, and if you're in the dark already and can't read: here.
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
has something to do with making Trump a better person or?
Here's the text of the impact strategy:
1. Bend over.
2. Put head between knees.
3. Kiss ass goodbye.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Maybe those SHTF bunkers might be useful after all!
Only well-hidden secret ones. The rest are just goody boxes.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Somebody better tell them about Helios, or we'll have to be reviving dead people from the future to prevent it.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
Keep throwing massive american ham planets at it, sooner or later the gravity well will deflect it's trajectory and or a gravitational singularity will form transporting it to another galxay and it will become an sep.
It's not like there is a shortage of them and they are cheap once we get them into orbit.
Sentinel, NEOCAM, etc. are a waste of money given the completion of LSST. Drain the swamp is the correct philosophy in this case even if the symptom that results i.e. Trump is not wanted. These projects demonstrate the terrible lack of accountability with the current tax deductible donation laws.
What kind of asteroid strategy can you put together in your last two weeks in office, anyway? "If you see one, Duck?"
Step 1. Stick head between legs
Step 2. Kiss your sweet ass good bye
Did I miss anythin?. Probably something about a lot of crying and praying. Maybe a step about shitting yourself.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
Maybe this is the reaction to actually having found one on a possible collision course.
1) pack all American progressives & snowflakes into rocket warhead 2) strap on nuclear weapon 3) shoot vaguely toward approaching asteroid 4) hide under desk 5) detonate nuke ...6) party like it's 1995.
Thank you. That's an amazing story. I thought I had read everything by Asimov, but I somehow missed that one.
Whether the cause is an asteroid, nukes, or even a virus, the preparedness is mostly the same - be ready to provide medical care to a million people, have your lines of command and communication ready between leaders and to the public, etc.
One popular drill in emergency preparedness is zombie apocalypse - not because zombies might actually happen, but because it's a generic scenario that exercises all aspects of response. Zombies are contagious, like any virus or bacterium, they are mobs, they're violent, etc. If you can handle hoardes of zombies you can handle anything, so we practice handling zombies. If the media spokesperson screws up and forgets to give the essential information during the press conference about the zombie attack, they've learned a valuable lesson that applies to any widespread, panic-inducing event.
. . . . at puny human attempts for defense. . .
Love,
The Sweet Meteor of Death
>> (Nightfall is) an amazing story. I thought I had read everything by Asimov, but I somehow missed that one.
Happy you found it, but how did you miss that story if you've read so much else by Asimov?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightfall_(Asimov_novelette_and_novel)
"In 1968, the Science Fiction Writers of America voted Nightfall the best science-fiction short story written prior to the 1965 establishment of the Nebula Awards..."
and some would say it launched Asimov's full time career.
WTF is going on here!?
and a heckuva yuuuge border tax if they hit here. that'll fix it!
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
The republicans are gearing up to appeal the Affordable Care act, appoint a couple of conservative SCOTUS's, undo all Obama's environmental, labor, and trade relation edicts... effectively erasing the entire Obama Presidency - and with mere days left of his presidency, spitting out a NEO CYA plan is of primary importance... there's an effective use of tax money...
Assuming we ever get a serious budget to deploy instruments capable of spotting these things.
Assuming we even know about it with more than a couple of days notice.
Assuming we even have tech capable of moving such a large mass sufficiently to alter its trajectory at all.
Assuming we have said tech already deployed and standing by in launch capable or ready to fire status.
Without all of the above, the strategy is this:
Die. Horribly.
Either as vaporized matter that becomes part of the ejecta cloud, or a short lived Class Alpha fire when the
fireball shows up. Maybe you'll get lucky and catch the bazillion meter tall tsunami that will get generated.
Would make for an Epic last selfie
It's all for you (DAMIEN)!
it's /.'d now...
Lulz. Didn't know this site still generated that much traffic.
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
GOP believes God would never allow an asteroid to wipe out his precious humans, so no steps are necessary to prevent this non-issue from happening.
Awful lot of pages for "kiss ass goodbye".
Haven't they seen any asteroid movies ... ever?!?!? Nukes won't work.
1. Sit down
2. Bring knees to chest
3. Place head between knees
4. Kiss ass goodbye
Why does that take 25 pages?
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
DUCK!
-linux... they can't *give* that shit away.
(N/T)
Point it at the south side of Chicago. Those gangs are not about to let an astroid invade their turf.
If you read the 25-page summary looking for hard details on what would happen were an asteroid impact to be inevitable, you might be disappointed. In that case, I would recommend Ben H. Winters' The Last Policeman trilogy. It covers the work of a detective in the months prior to a meteor impact that's presumed to be civilization-ending.