Apophis is coming and it is up to the UN to stop him!

[Queasy]

Asteroid not G'ouald.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An asteroid may come uncomfortably close to Earth in 2036 and the United Nations should assume responsibility for a space mission to deflect it, a group of astronauts, engineers and scientists said on Saturday.

Astronomers are monitoring an asteroid named Apophis, which has a 1 in 45,000 chance of striking Earth on April 13, 2036.

Although the odds of an impact by this particular asteroid are low, a recent congressional mandate for NASA to upgrade its tracking of near-Earth asteroids is expected to uncover hundreds, if not thousands of threatening space rocks in the near future, former astronaut Rusty Schweickart said.

"It's not just Apophis we're looking at. Every country is at risk. We need a set of general principles to deal with this issue," Schweickart, a member of the Apollo 9 crew that orbited the earth in March 1969, told an American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Francisco.

Schweickart plans to present an update next week to the U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on plans to develop a blueprint for a global response to an asteroid threat.

The Association of Space Explorers, a group of former astronauts and cosmonauts, intends to host a series of high-level workshops this year to flesh out the plan and will make a formal proposal to the U.N. in 2009, he said.

Schweickart wants to see the United Nations adopt procedures for assessing asteroid threats and deciding if and when to take action.

he favored approach to dealing with a potentially deadly space rock is to dispatch a spacecraft that would use gravity to alter the asteroid's course so it no longer threatens Earth, said astronaut Ed Lu, a veteran of the International Space Station.

The so-called Gravity Tractor could maintain a position near the threatening asteroid, exerting a gentle tug that, over time, would deflect the asteroid.

An asteroid the size of Apophis, which is about 460 feet

long, would take about 12 days of gravity-tugging, Lu added.

Mission costs are estimated at $300 million.

Launching an asteroid deflection mission early would reduce the amount of energy needed to alter its course and increase the chances of a successful outcome, Schweickart said.

NASA says the precise effect of a 460-foot (140-meter) object hitting the Earth would depend on what the asteroid was made of and the angle of impact.

Paul Slovic, president of Oregon-based Decision Research, which studies judgment, decision-making and risk analysis, said the asteroid could take out an entire city or region.

 

[ThePresence]

Liv Tyler is not involved? I'm not interested.

Seriously though, how do they figure out the 1-in-45,000 chance? Can't they see the direction it's going and track it that way?
Obviously I don't know wtf I'm talking about, but I'm just curious.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Mission costs are estimated at $300 million.

If that is the estimate, then I predict cost overruns, bribes, and kickbacks will raise it to over a trillion dollars, and the U.N. will wind up blowing up the Earth by mistake.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven

Mission costs are estimated at $300 million.

If that is the estimate, then I predict cost overruns, bribes, and kickbacks will raise it to over a trillion dollars, and the U.N. will wind up blowing up the Earth by mistake.

Is that before or after the child prostitute rings?

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: ShotgunSteven

Mission costs are estimated at $300 million.

If that is the estimate, then I predict cost overruns, bribes, and kickbacks will raise it to over a trillion dollars, and the U.N. will wind up blowing up the Earth by mistake.

Is that before or after the child prostitute rings?

After. No doubt the Secretary General will enter into some sort of deal to sell caucasian women to aliens as sex slaves, as well.

 

[Fern]

Well, if it's being assigned to the UN it must not be a serious threat.

Fern

 

[CrackRabbit]

They are going to send it a sternly worded letter?

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
They are going to send it a sternly worded letter?

Worse, they will threaten it with sanctions!

 

[K1052]

460 feet?

Couldn't we just send up a couple multi-megaton nuclear weapons to take care of it? God knows we and the Russians have enough of the things lying around.


You all know the UN dosen't have to lift a finger as the'll just wait for the US to do something about it.

I say we should throw a good scare into the other members and say we won't intercept if it's not going to hit the US.

 

[AnthroAndStargate]

How is the UN gonna do this when they have no power? The US wont let them have any so I guess it's on us to take care of it.

Is it against the libertarian/traditional conservative mantra to blow up an asteroid? That seems to go against isolationists policy - it is a 'foreign affair' after all.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: ThePresence
Liv Tyler is not involved? I'm not interested.

Seriously though, how do they figure out the 1-in-45,000 chance? Can't they see the direction it's going and track it that way?
Obviously I don't know wtf I'm talking about, but I'm just curious.

not enough observation points so the measurements aren't exact.




as for nukes, a little gravity tug sounds far cheaper and far less dangerous

 

[JujuFish]

Nice butchering of Goa'uld.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

They can save money by sending up oil drillers and having them drive around the rock trying to avert armaggedon for the rest of us. That is my new idea for he day. It's brilliant. They should make a movie about that.

 

[lobbyone]

2036 sounds too long...

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: AnthroAndStargate
How is the UN gonna do this when they have no power? The US wont let them have any so I guess it's on us to take care of it.

Is it against the libertarian/traditional conservative mantra to blow up an asteroid? That seems to go against isolationists policy - it is a 'foreign affair' after all.

The U.S. won't "let" them have any power? Try "The U.N. is a corrupt, bloated body that couldn't find its collective arse with both hands in its back pockets, and any time they want something done, they have to call the U.S. in to do it anyway."