Plan to prevent an asteroid impact

Do we have one?

We all know that there are millions of large rocks and debris flying around space, and the threat of an Asteroid impact is not IF, but WHEN.

Suppose we identify an asteroid that is barreling right towards Earth, do we (the human population) have any sort of plan in place? Or are we waiting to find such an asteroid first, and then decide how we can avert the disaster?

If we dont have a plan... then why not?

With all of the money spent of space exploration and defense, i dont see why we wouldnt want to have a plan in place in case any rock sneaks up on us... Sure, this is unlikely, but when the risk is the total annihilation of the human species, it seems like it is only logical to err on the side of caution.

Who knows, maybe we already have a plan, and im sure we at LEAST have some sort of primitive plan or idea as to what we would do, but why not a comprehensive plan?

If we do have a plan, why havent we tested it? This sort of thing isnt something i would want to risk on a trial run, and i doubt we would have many shots at it... so why not figure things out now?

Would we blow it up? Redirect it? melt it? pray for divine intervention (ha)? Now i understand that the composition and size of the rock would affect our response, but would it totally change how we go about avoiding it? Cause that is the only reason i can think of why we wouldnt prepare fully to avoid such a disaster.

Please enlighten me.

yes there are lots of plans .
but the blow it up idea was diched fast first nuks dont acte the same in space would do very little to a chunk of nickle iron rock comeing in at gods own speed.
now mealting it is getting more poplar as with a plasma canon you mealt one side causeing it to move in a new direction but this idea cant be done as we dont have a plasma canon that powerfull.
so the only way at this point with our leAVel of tek is moveing it slowly just a little but for that to work we need to know about that rock alest 3 years in adavance.
if we do it would be easly done rock comet dont matter .
just build a ship pack a large sheet of alumin type meterial say 1 mile by 1 mile square go becide the rock comet deploy sheet of foil poshion it so sunlight is now reflected onto that side of rock ( dont matter if it spinning or not .
slowly the reflected heat and photons will cause the rock to move sideways .
now just do this for two years and the rock has moved 3 feet . yea dont sound like much does it but that 3 feet in the last year ends up being 100k miles wich means it now missed earth .
heck know about that rock 5 years only move it an inch that would do it.
forget blowing it up that just turns a big rock into many little ones.
just aim it were earths not thats easy as long as you start soon enough.
and rember this doesnt take trak tek just what we have NOW to do it.
the problem is the governments arent worried about it nasa doesnt get enough funds to track more then 2 or 3% of earth crossing objects.
so without adavanced warning all bets are off. and even a rock the size of a grayhound hitting say newyork would look just like a nuk no more newyork.
by the way rember shoemaker leavy ? a comet taht was 7 miles in dimanter wich Jupiter sucked in first taring it up then it hit boom boom boom in 96 leaving earth sized holes if taht had hit here instead well we would be talking now so realy its not a question of if a comet or metor will hit but WHEN.
one will hit sooner or later another dino killer will come our way but this time we will be the dinos sucks dont it

Another reason to get back to the moon and stay there. Dealing with an asteroid with the moon as a vantage and jumping off point, would allow for a faster and larger response.

I think they should deflect it or make it change its course rather than destroy it. I don't know how, it just sounds like it would be easier.

reply to post by xxcalbier


thanks, that makes a lot of sense, i hadnt really thought about how small of a distance it would need to be moved given the huge distance and speed it would be travelling.