Last day of Earth

[modoko]

http://men.msn.com/articlepm.aspx?cp...&wa=wsignin1.0

[KingMarineM16a4]

It's all retarded arse theories... Tomorrow could be anyones last day on Earth or today in that fact.

[*007*civic]

WERE ALL GONA DIE!!

[Gonzo]

$250 million to build this thing? That's a bargain, besides who would miss that much money what with this war and all. This thing could potentially save billions of people.

If we can get this deflection device to have a bonus nuclear explosion after it has done its job I'm all for it!

[Jaranath]

Originally Posted by KingMarineM16a4

It's all retarded arse theories...

Care to tell the astronomers that?

Point is, this isn't the result of a few kooks getting media attention. These are sober professionals who know their field. This isn't the first near-Earth asteroid that's gone by, and it won't be the last. The nice thing is we can (and are) actually spot them these days in advance, and get a fairly decent idea of how likely they are to hit us. This one is probably going to pass through the gap between many of our satellites and Earth, about three Earth-diameters away. That's close, especially when you consider that it will be significantly affected by our gravity.

Given what we know of the historic rate of major asteroid impacts, it's very unlikely we'll be hit remotely soon. But we will be hit, and almost certainly while there are humans (as we would recognize ourselves today) present at the time. The effect would be catastrophic, ranging from deaths in the hundreds of millions and the fall of some major civilizations/countries, to the eradication of our species. Given that the consequences are so severe, even with this slight risk some sort of mitigation is, in my opinion, called for. The good news there is that the mitigation mostly amounts to having the capacity to spot the asteroids in advance, which isn't all that expensive (since the equipment can be and is used for science and commercial/government purposes anyway) and which we already partially have.

True, the second phase of that is having the equipment to deflect asteroids, but I don't think we need to panic and rush to complete a billion-dollar vehicle for that purpose just yet. I think over the course of our developing space programs, we'll probably (eventually) have "off-the-shelf" vehicles that could be quickly modified to serve this purpose.

In other words: "Don't Panic."

[SIcBoy]

wow. we should get bruce willis, to start a team of professional oil drillers train them to go in space and they can go land on the asteriod and plant a bomb, that would cause it to either seperate or explode

[TommyD]

^
lame.

Don't quit your day job.

[SIcBoy]

^lame

[06blaksi]

My last day on earth is 5/14/14



I know this because they put an expiration date on my birth certificate

[SIcBoy]

Originally Posted by 06blaksi

My last day on earth is 5/14/14



I know this because they put an expiration date on my birth certificate

no that just means you gone bad

[CHRIS]

Maybe we can deflect part of it to hit terrorist

by mistake of course

[Skyline4life]

Originally Posted by 06blaksi

My last day on earth is 5/14/14



I know this because they put an expiration date on my birth certificate

no don't go! if you do give me your car and i'll protect it.

[KingMarineM16a4]

It seems like every six months there is an anstroid that is going to destroy our planet and how Mars holds life as well as our Moon and how life only lives with water, la la la la la... Just beacuse things on Earth need water doesn't mean that outer "creatures" (if any, which I believe so) will need water to survive. So in my mind theorist are just wasting time.

[06blaksi]

Originally Posted by Skyline4life

no don't go! if you do give me your car and i'll protect it.

Still 7 years from now. I'll have the new body style by then. This one, I'll give to my daughter. If they change the style in 5 years, she'll be 17 and have had 1 year experience on the Corolla I'll keep you in mind on the new Si tho...lol

Sigh...still owe 7k on this one

[Jaranath]

Originally Posted by KingMarineM16a4

It seems like every six months there is an anstroid that is going to destroy our planet and how Mars holds life as well as our Moon and how life only lives with water, la la la la la... Just beacuse things on Earth need water doesn't mean that outer "creatures" (if any, which I believe so) will need water to survive. So in my mind theorist are just wasting time.

It does seem that way, doesn't it? But look closer at who's talking and what's being said. Typically you're getting some random media story about the same asteroid yesterday's random media story covered, conveniently downplaying the fact that the asteroid isn't coming tomorrow and is expected to miss us. Astronomers aren't playing Chicken Little every few months, and if you ask 'em, they'd mostly resent the implication (except for Dr. Little...that guy never shuts up). But that's the media and general public perception of science, sadly...a bunch of Dr. Frink eggheads prone to fits of overblown grandiosity and paranoia and the exploding and the hurting and the burning and the n'hey.

And I very much agree about the unnecessary assumption that all life would be Earthlike and thus need water. The main reason that persists is that it's all we know, so for now, it's the easiest to look for indirect evidence of. Mars has generated a lot of that (water on Mars = maybe life, yay!) because we have a few new-ish probes generating a lot of data over the past couple years, that keeps giving new clues. I'm more excited about Europa. We already know there's water, and quite possibly liquid water, there under the ice. But trust me, if we ever get a proper probe there, the news will be sprinkled for years with "Scientists discover water on Europa; may support life!" headlines, as each new little press release comes out.

[Mangover]

Ha good thing my Si sedan protects me from meteor storms... well thats what the salesmen said.

[GameTraveler]

Soooo, the asteroid projection is getting 'plutoed' by this thread?

[KingMarineM16a4]

Originally Posted by Jaranath

I'm more excited about Europa. We already know there's water, and quite possibly liquid water, there under the ice. But trust me, if we ever get a proper probe there, the news will be sprinkled for years with "Scientists discover water on Europa; may support life!" headlines, as each new little press release comes out.

I would be ecstatic to see what happens on Europa... Like Antarctica scientist believe that there is water living organisms under the thick ice. They've already started creating/constructing probes that can melt its way threw the ice without contaminating the water below which if contaminated could lead to no longer living organisms...

But lets face the facts... We(us two) are dorks...

[Civic4u]

Originally Posted by GameTraveler

Soooo, the asteroid projection is getting 'plutoed' by this thread?

Mmmm, I heard of this too. Thirty more year from now. The BIG "mother of of all earth" will crash into earth. CA will sink beneath the water. Nevada and Arizona will be rich in properties value. .....We will see.... I heard the government have planned for this already by shooting a nuclear missile to jerk the asteroid off it course....

[Jaranath]

Originally Posted by KingMarineM16a4

But lets face the facts... We(us two) are dorks...

Indeed.