Killer asteroid search nixed, lack of money

[The Straight Story]

Killer asteroid search nixed, lack of money

WASHINGTON NASA officials say the agency is capable of finding nearly all the asteroids that might pose a danger to Earth. But they say the task won't get done because there isn't enough money to pay for it.
According to a NASA report, the cost to find at least 90 percent of the 20-thousand potentially hazardous asteroids and comets by 2020 would be about one (b) billion dollars.

In 2005, Congress asked the space agency to come up with a plan to track most killer asteroids and propose how to deflect the potentially catastrophic ones.

These are asteroids that are bigger than 460 feet in diameter. Officials say that even if they don't hit Earth but explode close enough, the blast could have enough power to devastate an entire state, such as Maryland.

http://www.koin.com/Global/story.asp?S=6182533&nav=menu494_2

[shireen]

1. when the big giant rock comes crashing to earth

the idiots will finally wish they didn't go to Iraq. Damn war has siphoned so much from education, health, research, and social programs.

[shadowknows69]

2. I give up on the human race

we really are too stupid to exist aren't we?

[The Straight Story]

3. It is pretty sad indeed

how countries do not work together to face things which threaten us all. Instead of working as a human race together, we work against each other and in the process ignore the threats to all.

[walldude]

8. The lack of common sense is astounding

For less than 1% of what we are going to spend in Iraq we could insure avoiding a global catastrophe. But let's not. :crazy: :banghead:

[Swamp Rat]

4. yes

[shadowknows69]

6. Swamp!

Dude, can I turn some of your designs into Second Life products to sell? Is there a site where they are displayed?

[Swamp Rat]

9. "... sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the MAN to come..."

:smoke:



At this time my art ain't for sale, but if I ever decide to 'sell it' in some form, I may ask for your help... if you are interested.

For now, you can download it and print it for personal use. ;)

Now, if you want to design something and want my help I may be interested... depending on if it makes me laugh my ass off after I finish the design. :D

[shadowknows69]

14. I don't know what you know about second life

but players can make online money by selling things they make. Clothing, posters, virtual furinture for virtual houses etc. its really amazing if you're into that kind of thing. Anyhoo I opened a number of t-shirt poster shops and I made some protest tees designs of my own. Trying to get the message out even in cyberspace and all that. You would have been proud of me swamp, I made a tee with the pic bush playing his guitar he got while katrina happened with the tag: "While New Orleans Drown, Nero Fiddled." I wore it to all the mardi gras and NO sections of the virtual world i could find. My new line is based on a duer idea. Bostonians for the overthrow of King George. I'm expanding it to include every thing. Gave one to a german girl today Germans for the......

For the record my friend I would work with you in any endeavor or capacity you'd think me beneficial. There are a lot of artists in SL and it would also be free exposure for you and I will be quick with info about you for anyone who asks. If that is one way you might want to spread your magic of course.

[Swamp Rat]

16. Oh! The virtual world thingy.

:thumbsup:

Oooo! I have some cool ideas popping into my little brain... :idea:

I may join this SL world ... :evilgrin: .... going to PM mode. ;)

[Richard Steele]

7. It's a self-correcting problem; just give it time. nm

[greyl]

17. NASA officials and congress aren't representatives of humanity at large.

They're the product of one culture out of 10s of thousands of other cultures.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[greyl]

29. The subject was "giving up on the human race", not what you're going on about.

Please, read for comprehension, and try to leave your disagreements with me in other forums out of it.

HamdenRice: "Why are you always giving excuses to George W Bush and blaming Democrats and scientists?"

That statement is total and absolute bullshit, HamdenRice.

Since I've worked for Ford Aerospace at GSFC, and since you believe the moon landings were faked, I won't need to hear your opinion on this matter at all.

[Name removed]

Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[greyl]

36. No, not a lie - an error. Big difference.

Amazing that you're demanding I provide evidence for my statements about you, when your posts indicate you feel you can repeatedly post baseless accusations about me in more than one forum without a care in the world for whether or not they're true.

There's a post in this thread titled "HR's "Inductive" Reasoning in action" which I mistook to be a collection of quotes from your posts. Your reply didn't make it clear that the statements weren't your own.

HamdenRice: "And you clearly blamed this cut on scientists and the Democratic controlled congress, not on the administration where it clearly belongs."

No, you're imagining that. I responded to a post about giving up on the human race by saying that Congress and NASA don't represent humanity at large. That statement isn't dependent on which political party is in the majority. As long as there are other cultures on the planet, it's always going to be true.

[HamdenRice]

31. delete dupe

[Octafish]

5. Well, it probably wouldn't hit Paraguay, anyway.

Rev Moon told the Bushes so, personally.

[Swamp Rat]

10. "... sitting in an English garden waiting for the Sun..."

:smoke: :hi:

[BayCityProgressive]

11. Statistically

this will happen. It is justa question of when. Unless jeebus saves us of course..

[Swamp Rat]

13. will?

[shadowknows69]

15. I'd rather give NASA a ton of money

and let them figure it out. Jesus has a lot on his plate, what with lunatic followers and all.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. NASA should say that there are evildoers making gonzo porn, giving pot brownies to cancer patients

and teaching teens about contraception instead of abstinence on those asteroids.

Then there would be an endless spigot, a veritable fucking GRAVY TRAIN of tax dollars to wipe em out!

[bananas]

18. They don't want NASA to see the mother ship arrive. nt

[pa28]

19. Hey, that's a weeks worth of operations in Iraq.

We have priorities here.

:sarcasm:

[longship]

20. Guess it's up to amateur astronomers.

They make a remarkable number of astronomical discoveries. Comets, asteroids, supernovae, etc. Lots of eyes on the problem is what works. The funding for such a near Earth asteroid search need not be very expensive. It's only a matter of providing the clearing house for the data and the money for research to improve techniques, etc. Some eyes in space wouldn't hurt either.

With Apophis now downgraded to level 0 on the Torino scale, at least for its 2029 approach, it could still present a significant danger if it manages to pass through the "keyhole" in space that would have it collide with the Earth on April 13, 2036 (a Friday, no less).

The real danger is not this kind of asteroid, but an undiscovered comet whose orbit puts it in the direction of the Sun as at approaches. Such a body would not be discovered until it was too late. This argues for the eyes in space approach which would not be limited by being tied to terra firma.

Regardless, refusing to fund this is just plain stupid.

[Ghost Dog]

22. NASA? The UN is drawing up an International Treaty on this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6370817.stm
Action plan for killer asteroids

A draft UN treaty to determine what would have to be done if a giant asteroid was on a collision course with Earth is to be drawn up this year.

The document would set out global policies including who should be in charge of plans to deflect any object.

...

The group will have its first meeting in Strasbourg in May this year. It is hoped the final document will be presented to the UN in 2009.

"We believe there needs to be a decision process spelled out and adopted by the United Nations," said Dr Russell Schweickart, one of the Apollo 9 astronauts and founder of the Association of Space Explorers.

...

The UN draft treaty would establish who should be in charge in the event of an asteroid heading towards Earth, who would pay for relief efforts and the policies that should be adopted.

In addition, it would set out possible plans to deflect the object.

...

Experts who will draw up the treaty include Lord Rees, the English Astronomer Royal and head of the Royal Society; the ex-director of science at the European Space Agency, Roger Bonnet; and former UK government advisor Sir Crispin Tickell.

The proposals were outlined at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in San Francisco, US.

[renate]

37. well, by 2009 we'll have a Demcractic House, Senate, AND president

I'm glad the UN is dealing with this and I hope we can be on board with them in 2009 once the "close your eyes and go la la la and the problem will go away" president is gone.

[Dogmudgeon]

21. Look at it this way

An impact will take our minds off our ongoing climate and energy problems.

A really big impact will render the point moot.

a 70 or 80 km impactor will set the game clock back to the first period. Sadly, since the Sun is slowly warming up, the Earth will only have 800 million years or so to evolve life, at least carbon-based life.

Maybe something asbestos-based this time.

--p!

[EST]

23. There's a rather major galaxy, Andromeda, headed for the

Milky Way, which will cross paths with us before then. In just a few hundred million years, our own galaxy will be destroyed, assimilated by this larger one or at least in its suburbs. The outskirts of these two may well begin interacting some half a billion years from now. Time estimates do vary, with the galactic centers destined to cross, by most calculations, no more than 2.3 billion years from now.

The chances of our solar system's encountering another, directly, is rather remote, due to the vast real distance between stars, but it is possible and the whole picture of space junk, with two black holes orbiting each other and eventually merging, the amount of dust and other debris increasing unpredictably but dramatically will make future history highly interesting.

Both galaxies are well developed, spiral structures but neither will retain this form at that time. The whole will become a football shape or a cloud with an amorphous, non-shape.

There is no way to predict, a few billion years hence, at about the time our sun is going through its red giant to white dwarf and then black, cold dwarf stages, whether the combination will settle down to a stable spiral structure again. It all depends on how the two spins combine.

Of course, our earth will have been burned to a crisp and consumed, adding it's tiny mass to the sun's burnt out cinder at that time.

The human race, or its descendants in whatever form, if it survives that long-highly unlikely-will have to have established a safe beach head, preferably a half billion to a billion light years distant from all the fun. it's a pretty safe bet the earth will not last nearly as long as it has lasted until now. Another billion years of blue skies and fleecy clouds is increasingly unlikely.

Oh well, (sigh) it's been fun while it lasted, sort of.

[Disturbed]

24. Securing the oil in Iraq is more important.

:eyes:

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. In billions of years, not 'a few hundred million'

eg a few billion years

in about 3 billion years

about 4 billion years

4 billion years

about 5 billion years

[Vinca]

25. Well, at least if an asteroid falls on my head it will be a quick death,

as opposed to the long and lingering death I might have for lack of health care. By the way, what ever happend to Shrub's mission to Mars? Couldn't we prioritize and abandon Mars in favor of asteroids?

[Phoonzang]

27. That was just talk too.

He blabbed about going back to the moon and Mars but hasn't funded the project.

[deutsey]

30. Good...because more and more, like George Carlin says,

I find myself rooting for the asteroid.

:evilfrown:

[ContraBass Black]

32. "...such as Maryland."

Why Maryland?

[CabalPowered]

33. Didn't they just find the most threatening asteroid a few years ago?

I think 2005.

[The Straight Story]

34. Yeah, I think they nicknamed it 'bush' :) (nt)

[SteppingRazor]

35. Why Maryland?

What exactly does this station have against Maryland? Why couldn't the asteroid obliterate, say, Delaware or Wisconsin? Heck, do theyeven need to offer an example of a state? I think we're all pretty clear on what a state is, no? :shrug: