NASA can't keep up with killer asteroids

Keeping in mind that using fear to try to get a bigger budget out of the government teat is nothing new ...

The article:


copied as image because "copy" is disabled
source: /pdalvp

Perhaps one of our esteemed cosmologists can chime in on this one ...

Is this just hype for cash money or should we be scared?

[edit on 12 Aug 2009 by schrodingers dog]

First, There are much bigger threats to Earth then asteroids. However,

As we a a nearing closer and closer to a series of Asteroid impacts, this is indeed a problem. I believe governments laugh of threats from space, and are highly ill prepared.

I see your point, however asteroids are a real threat and have a greater probability destroying large parts of this planet than you winning the lottery. I would rather put money into watching for these, instead if letting congress fly around in corporate jets.

Yeah well maybe if some of that nearly $ 3 trillion that was spent fighting a profit war in Iraq was spent instead on searching for things like this that can end life on this planet, we wouldn't all be screaming "I told you so" from hell after the fact.

Ah don't worry the Earth will do just fine.

It may loose a few billion inhabitants mostly those war mongering pesky humans but eventually life will return after a few thousand years of impact winter. I think the Earth has survived this a few times. Remember when the Dinos went extinct?

Yup the Earth will do just fine.

I'll not look for the link now cause I don't really care but... I read... in a Google link.. that only 30% of space can be scanned for asteroids and comets.

And yet another step in the master plan. It's all coming to fruition now.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Another article on the same subject:

Without more funding, NASA will not meet its goal of tracking 90 percent of all deadly asteroids by 2020, according to a report released today by the National Academy of Sciences.

The agency is on track to soon be able to spot 90 percent of the potentially dangerous objects that are at least a kilometer (.6 miles) wide, a goal previously mandated by Congress.

Asteroids of this size are estimated to strike Earth once every 500,000 years on average and could be capable of causing a global catastrophe if they hit Earth. In 2008, NASA’s Near Earth Object Program spotted a total of 11,323 objects of all sizes.

But without more money in the budget, NASA won’t be able to keep up with a 2005 directive to track 90 percent of objects bigger than 460 feet across. An impact from an asteroid of this size could cause significant damage and be very deadly, particularly if it were to strike near a populated area.

Meeting that goal “may require the building of one or more additional observatories, possibly including a space-based observatory,” according to the report.

The committee that investigated the issue noted that the United States is getting little help from the rest of the world on this front, and isn’t likely to any time soon.

Another report is planned for release by the end of the year that will review what NASA plans to do if we spot a life-threatening asteroid headed our direction.


A summary of the report’s findings:

- Congress has mandated that NASA discover 90 percent of all near-Earth objects 140 meters in diameter or greater by 2020. The administration has not requested and
- Congress has not appropriated new funds to meet this objective. Only limited facilities are currently involved in this survey/discovery effort, funded by NASA’s existing budget.
- The current near-Earth object surveys cannot meet the goals of the 2005 NASA
Authorization Act directing NASA to discover 90 percent of all near-Earth objects 140 meters in diameter or greater by 2020.
- The orbit-fitting capabilities of the Minor Planet Center are more than capable of handling the observations of the congressionally mandated survey as long as staffing needs are met.
- The Arecibo Observatory telescope continues to play a unique role in characterization of NEOs, providing unmatched precision and accuracy in orbit determination and insight into size, shape, surface structure, multiplicity, and other physical properties for objects within its declination coverage and detection range.
- The United States is the only country that currently has an operating survey/detection program for discovering near-Earth objects; Canada and Germany are both building spacecraft that may contribute to the discovery of near-Earth objects. However, neither mission will detect fainter or smaller objects than ground-based telescopes.

www.wired.com...

Originally posted by Scooby Doo
First, There are much bigger threats to Earth then asteroids. However,

As we a a nearing closer and closer to a series of Asteroid impacts, this is indeed a problem. I believe governments laugh of threats from space, and are highly ill prepared.

That is probably the silliest thing i've heard.. "bigger threats to worry about" What could be bigger than that? I'd love to hear some examples.

Cheers

Originally posted by BluePillOrRedPill

Originally posted by Scooby Doo
First, There are much bigger threats to Earth then asteroids. However,

As we a a nearing closer and closer to a series of Asteroid impacts, this is indeed a problem. I believe governments laugh of threats from space, and are highly ill prepared.

That is probably the silliest thing i've heard.. "bigger threats to worry about" What could be bigger than that? I'd love to hear some examples.

Cheers

A gamma-ray beam from a nearby supernova would be a little bigger threat - I think.

SDog, this was why I saw this thread so important, it really did give me the sickest feeling in the pit of my stomach to read that they ahve no clue and are now calling on anyone and everyone to help save their butts.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is just more validation.

reply to post by BluePillOrRedPill


well...I was speaking hypothetically. The predicted "close encounter" asteroids in the future a more unlikely to cause "ultimate damage" rather the supernovas in the galaxy. Earth is far more likely to been in the striking zone of a supernova as they are randomized and energy levels consistently fluctuate. Asteroids can be prepared for.

reply to post by Larryman


VERY much my point.

Gamma rays would wipe us from existence!

This is literally outrageous

When even Obama says we will not get through this situation without INNOVATION it is a shame that we are not spending the money to track Asteroids

No SHAMEFUL

Aside from the potential threat of an impact

We need to approach the nearest wave of new resources one step at a time, Tracking Asteroids, is a very simple not very expensive by govt standards step in the direction of mining them.

We will never mine them if we don't bother to locate them.

When a single asteroid has the potential worth of 17 TRILLION US Dollars in Platinum alone, there is more than the financial incentive.

And when we deplete resources or mine from the Earth, we damage the environment, a very simple way to assure that we don't get hit by a deadly Asteroid would be to simply mine the living bejesus out of the dangerous ones for a starter...

With Apophis making a close call in 2029 and us being about 17 Trillion in debt

There would seem to be a good incentive here to plug it and kill two birds with one stone.

While I know platinum would devalue in those amounts and mining would be staggered at first... I don't think it would actually be such a monumental feat to nudge it into far orbit (Apophis) considering it's coming straight at us....

While Pentagon officials contemplate moronic options like launching Nukes to destroy or deflect it... a simple solar sail could readily give it a nudge and throw it into a nice safe orbit slightly closer than the moon, you could even privatize the mining efforts creating an entire new Industry

The infusion of slow cash from the metals would boost the economy for decades to come...

But like a bad sci fi movie a nation in terrible debt with the technological capability would rather blow 17 Trillion in Platinum to bits, deflect it off to space or ... just hope for the best economically and in terms of our survival

So much for innovation from the Federal Govt

Even though they do detect a large asteroid thats heading for the Earth, there is nothing they can do to stop it.

It would be a case of drinking a large bottle of Vodka and hoping for the best, IF THEY PRE WARN US!!

SO would like some time to get some things out of the way or just have enough time to have a drink. For me 3 mos would be about enough time. So yeah I'd rather Know if it was coming in advance

reply to post by grantbeed


There are a lot of ways to stop an asteroid. Provided we haven't spent all of our money on missiles and fighter jets to keep us safe from the terrorists.

See?

Remember, incoming "asteroids" (Or any other like object, UFO included) are now classified and we would not be informed of it beforehand.

Sure it'd be nice to not get blown up, but why pay these people even more for projects they hide, like NASA's track record of falsifying and altering of it's pictures?

You guys have ruined me.

My take:

They already HAVE found something. The ruse that they have no funding will be used for plausible deniability.

'To build the necessary telescopes'??? How may do they need?

When they claim to not have funding, they have an excuse to not be 'looking.' They don't want to be looking because they already know something they aren't telling us.

or...maybe they just figured out that college kids and amateur astronomers do a far better job of finding things than they do anyway, so they're just going to get into a different line of work.

Brings up a few more interesting questions tho...dagnabbit.

NASA estimates that there are about 20,000 asteroids and comets in our solar system that are potential threats. They are larger than 460 feet in diameter — slightly smaller than the Superdome in New Orleans. So far, scientists know where about 6,000 of these objects are.

along with:

And the United States is practically the only government doing anything at all, the report found.

So, we don't know where about 14,000 potential threat asteroids and comets the size of the Superdome are because of the lack of $800 million (with a M and not a B or T) over 12 years, and yet we spend trillions on bailouts of banks (that we don't know where it was used) over 3 years. That is LUDICROUS.