Science/Environment Asteroid impact imminent

[Lance Uppercut]

...in geological terms anyway

According to the Russians, we have 26 years to devise a method of stopping a potentially catastrophic asteroid measuring about 350 metres in diameter, that could, if it hit, cause a desert the size of France around the impact zone & cause global chaos. The alleged date of impact is 2036.

http://www.theage.com.au/technology...o-save-earth-from-asteroid-20091231-lk3g.html

Russian scientists will soon meet in secret to work on a plan for saving Earth from a possible catastrophic collision with a giant asteroid in 26 years, the head of Russia's space agency said on Wednesday.

http://www.theage.com.au/technology...o-save-earth-from-asteroid-20091231-lk3g.html

What do we make of this? Cause for concern? Or a kind of reverse Independence Day PR for the Russkies?

I think it's probably not a bad thing to think about regardless of whether this is the real deal - but as I understand it, with the amount of asteroids out there, the chances are we could get hit very little warning regardless

 

[MightyFighting]

I know how to stop the asteroid, and i'll do it for 1 million dollars!

 

[Wally Carter]

A Super Volcano blast is a lot more imminenter.

 

[Play by Numbers]

Oh noes terrorists.... wait I mean rogue states.....wait I mean asteroids from space.

Waist billions of dollars/mountains of resources and cover the earth in elaborate missile defense systems so long as I can sleep safer at night, awesome.

Alright I am jumping the gun a bit but lets face it protection from asteroids seems like a less than credible stretch for some chump governments to jump on the bandwagon with and champion as the new global safety crisis but sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit

I hope stuff like this does not gain more attention or traction.

It's like human history is one crappy record stuck on repeat.

 

[Wally Carter]

A 350 metre rock?

It's not going to be an extinction event, but it would result in a thinning of the herd.

Sounds like a good thing to me.

Mum's gonna fix it all soon.
Mum's comin' round to put it back the way it ought to be.............

 

[Mr Q]

Well, it would probably fix up global warming in one hit....

Now, if I've learned anything from movies, it's bound to be targetting somewhere in the continental United States, so that'll help as well.

 

[bit_pattern]

Where's clint eastwood?

 

[Wally Carter]

Where's the President?

 

[Docker Clint]

Where's the President?

He's having a meeting with several heads of government, then he's off to church.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

A 350 metre rock?

It's not going to be an extinction event, but it would result in a thinning of the herd.

Sounds like a good thing to me.

Mum's gonna fix it all soon.
Mum's comin' round to put it back the way it ought to be.............

Time for those swimming lessons?

 

[NitroFan]

Dibs on playing the Will Smith role.

 

[corsock]

Where's clint eastwood?

Nah...We need Bruce Willis...he has experience in these types of things.

 

[PunyHumans!!!]

Just fire Willis out of a giant cannon towards the meteor...that big thick bald head should deflect it safely out of harms way.

 

[Dont be a lemon]

Elijah Wood board.

 

[Dawson]

I think I saw this movie

 

[likka]

Meh, it'll burn up on impact and reduce to the size of a 20 cent piece... don't you people know anything.

 

[Wally Carter]

We're talking about a 27 million tonne meteor here.


Initial NASA blast estimates:

99942 Apophis - 800 megatons TNT

Comparisons:

Krakatoa - 200 megatons TNT
Tunguska - 3-10 megatons TNT

1 megaton TNT = 47.6 Hiroshima bombs

800 x 47.6 = 38,080 Hiroshimas

Estimates of Apophis 2036 path:


No wonder the Russians are worried.

From the current knowledge of the orbit of Apophis, it is known that, if an impact point on Earth exists for 2036, it has to be somewhere along a narrow path that stretches from Kazakhstan, across Siberia, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Pacific Ocean, Nicaragua, the southern Caribbean Sea, extreme northern Colombia and Venezuela, and the Atlantic Ocean, almost to Africa.

http://www.aero.org/conferences/planetarydefense/2007papers/S3-4--Gennery-Paper.pdf

Check out the projected flight path on page 5 of this link:

http://www.aero.org/conferences/planetarydefense/2007papers/S3-4--Gennery-Brief.pdf

Casualties:

The second case study concerns the potential impact of asteroid (99942) Apophis in 2036. Propagation of the possible orbits along the line of variance leads to an extensive path of risk on the Earth. Deflection of the asteroid, by a variety of means, will move the projected impact site along this path. Results generated by NEOSim for the path indicate that South American countries such as Colombia and Venezuela are at a greatest risk with estimated casualty figures in excess of 10 million.

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=998156

More info:

Friday the 13th of April 2029 could be a very unlucky day for planet Earth. At 4:36 am Greenwich Mean Time, a 25-million-ton, 820-ft.-wide asteroid called 99942 Apophis will slice across the orbit of the moon and barrel toward Earth at more than 28,000 mph. The huge pockmarked rock, two-thirds the size of Devils Tower in Wyoming, will pack the energy of 65,000 Hiroshima bombs—enough to wipe out a small country or kick up an 800-ft. tsunami.

On this day, however, Apophis is not expected to live up to its namesake, the ancient Egyptian god of darkness and destruction. Scientists are 99.7 percent certain it will pass at a distance of 18,800 to 20,800 miles. In astronomical terms, 20,000 miles is a mere stone's throw, shorter than a round-trip flight from New York to Melbourne, Australia, and well inside the orbits of Earth's many geosynchronous communications satellites. For a couple of hours after dusk, people in Europe, Africa and western Asia will see what looks like a medium-bright star creeping westward through the constellation of Cancer, making Apophis the first asteroid in human history to be clearly visible to the naked eye. And then it will be gone, having vanished into the dark vastness of space. We will have dodged a cosmic bullet.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4201569.html

 

[rickyp]

It just had to be Friday the 13th... we're done

 

[corsock]

Damn!!

In 2036 I will be 70. And the way my liver is feeling this morning it is highly doubtful that I will still be around.

 

[Pie eyed]

It's an obvious ploy to divert some of money which will be gouged out of us to "combat" global warning away from the rich, fat Climate scientists and to the now struggling Space sciences.

Look to see eminent catastrophe in all competing scientific feilds.

Seismology for instance.

Regardless I have decided to bring my "sandwich board" factory up to full production to profit as a much as possible before the end.

 

[Play by Numbers]

lol just lol

If there was a "crazy" conspiracy theory I would promote, it would be that it could be a way to avoid nuclear disarmament (for certain countries), divert more money into missile defence systems and related technology and skirt negative public opinion that it may one day lead to countries circumventing treaties regarding the arming of space.