Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: The Asteroid Project

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Program TEXAS home of AUTOERS
    Posts
    7,934
    Mentioned
    26 Post(s)
    Quoted
    237 Post(s)

    Default The Asteroid Project

    http://news.yahoo.com/asteroid-hunte...news-tech.html


    Asteroids could be heading for Earth right now, and the world should not have to live in fear. At least that's the message of a group of scientists and former astronauts working on the issue. They announced plans today to launch the first privately funded deep space mission in history, a space telescope that would make sure the coast is clear for us.
    The SENTINEL mission, announced by the B612 Foundation, would send a telescope into orbit around the sun in order to track small to mid-sized asteroids that could threaten Earth. NASA already works with a network of astronomers to track the most dangerous near-Earth asteroids, those more than two thirds of a mile across. They say they believe they have already identified nearly 90 percent of those deadly space rocks.
    However, there is very little data on an estimated 500 million smaller objects that could do us harm - like whatever exploded over the Tunguska region of Siberia in 1908, leveling over 800 miles of forest. The chairman and CEO of the B612 Foundation, former astronaut Ed Lu, says this is a problem. He flew on the space shuttle, the International Space Station and Russian Soyuz spacecraft.


    "We've identified and mapped only about one percent of these asteroids to date." Lu said at a press conference. "During its 5.5-year mission survey time, Sentinel will discover and track half a million Near Earth Asteroids, creating a dynamic map that will provide the blueprint for future exploration of our solar system, while protecting the future of humanity on Earth."
    Don't expect that dynamic map anytime soon. Launch of the Sentinel telescope is targeted for 2017 or 2018 - if the project, which would cost several hundred million of dollars, is able to find funding.
    The B612 group is optimistic. A press release issued by the foundation said, "Advances in space technology, including advances in infrared sensing and on-board computing, as well as low-cost launch system, have opened up a new era in exploration where private organizations can now carry out grand and audacious space missions previously only possible by governments."
    The B612 Foundation, based in Mountain View, Calif., is named after the home asteroid of the Earth-visiting prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince." It was originally founded with a focus on deflecting a potential incoming asteroid. Ideas studied include sending an intercepting spacecraft, but none have been tested.
    The group has since shifted its focus to this project, which will seek to identify asteroids rather than destroy them. However, the original mission is not far from their minds.
    According to Rusty Schweickart, an Apollo astronaut and Chairman Emeritus of B612, "The nice thing about asteroids is that once you've found them and once you have a good solid orbit on them you can predict a hundred years ahead of time whether there is a likelihood of an impact with the Earth."

    Okay I believe this is quite useless... Les' say if it does head towards us, What The Heck Do Will WE DO!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    90
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Quoted
    0 Post(s)

    Default

    I've watched multiple videos on Apophis and I have been reluctantly thinking about how I feel that the world could be ending depending on the trajectory of Apophis. Now that the scientists announced this, I can feel better that there might be a chance to destroy Apophis or figure out a way to dislodge it from its orbit on a direct path to earth.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    667
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Quoted
    7 Post(s)

    Default

    Well we could do what the movie Armageddon (1998) did and use a couple of nukes to shift the course of the asteroid. How much scientific credibility that had remains in question :P
    I honestly agree though, knowing about asteroids is all well and good but we have no real plan for when we actual encounter one on a collision course with Earth.

    ~Caotom

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    196
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Quoted
    20 Post(s)

    Default

    One word: Armageddon

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    SRL Jail
    Posts
    1,319
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Quoted
    0 Post(s)

    Default

    Yet we have meteor showers all the time...
    You failed us, asteroid hunters!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    7,421
    Mentioned
    268 Post(s)
    Quoted
    1442 Post(s)

    Default

    It'll prove to be a warning device; it will serve as much purpose as tornado/hurricane/tsunami warnings. At least we'll know when and where the impact will take place thus giving us a chance to evacuate the area.

    Current projects:
    [ AeroGuardians (GotR minigame), Motherlode Miner, Blast furnace ]

    "I won't fall in your gravity. Open your eyes,
    you're the Earth and I'm the sky..."


  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Calgary, AB, Canada
    Posts
    1,819
    Mentioned
    5 Post(s)
    Quoted
    120 Post(s)

    Default

    Seems like a dumb idea too map asteroids but yeah like started Armageddon
    Current Project: Retired

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    3,352
    Mentioned
    21 Post(s)
    Quoted
    437 Post(s)

    Default

    We can just pull an ironman, have a guy in a metal suit fly up into space and plant a nuke into the mothership asteroid. Independence day :P




    Anti-Leech Movement Prevent Leeching Spread the word
    Insanity 60 Days (Killer workout)
    XoL Blog (Workouts/RS/Misc)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •