Trajectory Unclear: Feb 2013 Asteroid Will Be Within Thousands of Miles of Earth

[John F Kennedy III]

Trajectory Unclear: Feb 2013 Asteroid Will Be Within Thousands of Miles of Earth

Impact Would Be As Big As Siberian Tunguska Event; 1000 Times More Powerful Than Hiroshima

Mac Slavo
SHTFPlan.com
Monday, March 5, 2012


In the history of the solar system, and even in human history, there are clear records of extraordinary and devastating catastrophes… On the landscapes of other planets, where the records of the past are better preserved, there is abundant evidence of major catastrophes. It’s all a matter of time scales. An event which is improbable in a hundred years, may be inevitable in a hundred million years. Even on the Earth in this century there have been bizarre natural events.

Carl Sagan
Cosmos – A Personal Voyage (1980) [video]


rest of article here:
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-new...shima_03042012

[WilliamC]

This is why we should have space based weapons, not to use on the Earth's surface, but for the once every few-thousand-year asteroid that could make for a bad few decades if it were to hit.

Or worse.

Now if we just had folks responsible enough to trust with them...

[thoughtomator]

you realize that if such weapons existed they would be far more likely to be used to cause a catastrophe than prevent one

[eduardo89]

Please just strike earth so we can get the world over with...

[WilliamC]

you realize that if such weapons existed they would be far more likely to be used to cause a catastrophe than prevent one

Like I said, if we can just find folks responsible enough to trust with them.

I of course qualify, but I'm only one man and might not be around much longer, so there would have to be others I could equally trust.

Perhaps you?

But there already exists an asteroid which will someday hit the Earth, and early-detection combined with some sort of space-based technology to deflect or destroy it will be the only way to prevent it or to ameliorate the damage.

If we expect to live long enough we will have to worry about this, but I tend to think for now it's kinda far down on the list.

We're more likely to kill each other before that happens

[eduardo89]

Like I said, if we can just find folks responsible enough to trust with them.

Like th federal governement?

[bluesc]

This is why we should have space based weapons, not to use on the Earth's surface, but for the once every few-thousand-year asteroid that could make for a bad few decades if it were to hit.

They are making a gravitational craft in Russia that may be used to deflect an asteroid that may be headed for the west coast of the US.

No need for a weapon, just a really big spacecraft that has enough of a gravitational pull to pull an asteroid off course by a few mm. Of course, it could also be used to direct an asteroid at the White House..

[specsaregood]

you realize that if such weapons existed they would be far more likely to be used to cause a catastrophe than prevent one

I learned on the history channel, on the Ancient Aliens show that there are in fact laser weapons embedded in the permafrost somewhere around siberia. They are there to protect the planet from such events. There is proof of it in our archaeological record.

So i'm not concerned about it.

[WilliamC]

Like th federal governement?

LOL.

No, this would have to be a World Government I'm afraid, with me at it's head.

But we're a long way from having to worry about it, so it's nothing I'm pushing for yet

[bluesc]

LOL.

No, this would have to be a World Government I'm afraid, with me at it's head.

But we're a long way from having to worry about it, so it's nothing I'm pushing for yet

Funny, many scientists are also calling for a world government to make the human civilization advance to Type I on the Kardashev scale.

I don't trust you, Smoking man. You + space always ends badly.

[WilliamC]

Funny, many scientists are also calling for a world government to make the human civilization advance to Type I on the Kardashev scale.

I don't trust you, Smoking man. You + space always ends badly.

Good for you, I don't trust me either

I remember something my mother once asked me a long time ago, in response to what I don't know. But I was always the kind of kid who was a know-it-all and insufferable too boot, so I can imagine it was something absurd, an 'if only everyone would do so and so' kind of statement.

She said "what if the whole world thought the way you do?"

And I remember replying "it would be great because everyone would stop lying to each other and start making sense to me."

Point being, the hardest thing is to realize other people don't think like you do (or I do) so what is persuasive to you (or me) might not be to them.

Of course I can't help it that most folks I talk to seem to be lying to themselves about some things and don't seem to think as far into the future as I am prone to do, but what can I do about that?

[KingNothing]

Please just strike earth so we can get the world over with...

Really? Wow.

[WilliamC]

They are making a gravitational craft in Russia that may be used to deflect an asteroid that may be headed for the west coast of the US.

No need for a weapon, just a really big spacecraft that has enough of a gravitational pull to pull an asteroid off course by a few mm. Of course, it could also be used to direct an asteroid at the White House..

Artificial gravity would be the preferred method for deflection, if it can be made to work and powered with theoretically available forms of energy.

Just match velocity with whatever it is you are trying to deflect a few miles from the surface and power up the mass generator, then deccelerate. Depending on how far from Earth you start it would take the minimal amount of energy possible.

Now if we could do this somewhat cheaply then terraforming becomes more possible, since we could bring in materials from the outer solar system to Mars to increase the atmosphere, and possibly enough water in the form of comets to Venus to rain out most of the atmosphere and hydrate the surface, though that would take 10's of thousands of years.

Far better if we can find and travel to other solar systems with habitable planets, but as far as I can tell this isn't even theoretically possible yet.

Maybe someday...

[eduardo89]

Really? Wow.

What can I say, this world has gone to $#@!. We've earned God's wrath, I'm personally surprised he's put up with us for this long.

[bluesc]

Artificial gravity would be the preferred method for deflection, if it can be made to work and powered with theoretically available forms of energy.

Just match velocity with whatever it is you are trying to deflect a few miles from the surface and power up the mass generator, then deccelerate. Depending on how far from Earth you start it would take the minimal amount of energy possible.

Now if we could do this somewhat cheaply then terraforming becomes more possible, since we could bring in materials from the outer solar system to Mars to increase the atmosphere, and possibly enough water in the form of comets to Venus to rain out most of the atmosphere and hydrate the surface, though that would take 10's of thousands of years.

Far better if we can find and travel to other solar systems with habitable planets, but as far as I can tell this isn't even theoretically possible yet.

Maybe someday...

I'll stop pretending to know things now.

- A former IR major soon to be switching to physics

[NoOneButPaul]

This is why we should have space based weapons, not to use on the Earth's surface, but for the once every few-thousand-year asteroid that could make for a bad few decades if it were to hit.

Or worse.

Now if we just had folks responsible enough to trust with them...

There's been a lot of plans put forth on how to move asteroids without having to weaponize space.

Like deploying solar sails on the surface that move it in another direction, or landing a ton of jets on the surface and taking control of it.

A space based weapon is too much.

[NoPants]

Asteroid-impact avoidance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_impact_avoidance

[Orgoonian]

[fatjohn]

Its not on the torino scale nor the palermo scale. In addition it would not be bigger than the tunguska event even if it hit. There are other asteroids out there with a larger chance of wreaking havoc.

[WilliamC]

There's been a lot of plans put forth on how to move asteroids without having to weaponize space.

Like deploying solar sails on the surface that move it in another direction, or landing a ton of jets on the surface and taking control of it.

A space based weapon is too much.

Well a rock dropped from orbit is a space based weapon, so just having the technology to do one implies the other.

The safeguards needed to protect the Earth from misuse of said technology would have to be the same in either case.

[brushfire]

[Orgoonian]

Bwaaahaha!
Love that scene!

[trey4sports]

I learned on the history channel, on the Ancient Aliens show that there are in fact laser weapons embedded in the permafrost somewhere around siberia. They are there to protect the planet from such events. There is proof of it in our archaeological record.

So i'm not concerned about it.

[Zippyjuan]

17,000 miles is still pretty far away. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...stronomer.html

The space rock will come within 17,000 miles of Earth, which is closer than some of our satellites, but Plait says this is nothing to worry about.
He adds: ‘Seventeen thousand miles is well beneath many of our own orbiting satellites. To the best of my knowledge, this is the closest pass of a decent-sized asteroid ever seen before the actual pass itself. However, let’s again be very clear - it will miss. In astronomical terms, 17,000 miles is pretty close, but in real human terms it’s a clean miss.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...#ixzz1oHXxxxoB

[AFPVet]

This is why we should have space based weapons, not to use on the Earth's surface, but for the once every few-thousand-year asteroid that could make for a bad few decades if it were to hit.

Who says we don't

[vechorik]

RT is hyping


Unsurprisingly, though very irritatingly, I’ve seen a lot of websites writing about this as if the asteroid will hit. For example, rt.com has a very confused article about DA14 claiming it will somehow both miss us and hit us:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ba...-us-next-year/

[WilliamC]

Who says we don't

Don't talk about Fight Club!

There were at least 10 Space Shuttle missions that were DoD related, most of them classified, so who knows what they put up there?

Now we have to use the Russians to launch our payloads, so I doubt we are currently up to anything nefarious.

[HOLLYWOOD]

The outer ring of geosynchronous satellites are @ 22,300 nautical miles Those are your military comm sats, TV/radio, surveillance, etc. There are others in highly elliptical orbits aka Molinya/M22. GLONASS/GPS are in the 6,000 nm orbits. there should be some calculations on the 3 axis trajectory of the object, if it's only 11 months out.

The asteroid passes well inside the most critical satellite orbit paths as well as that biggest satellite target orbiting the earth, the moon.

[ZanZibar]

You mean we get an extra year?! Awesome! I thought the world was gonna end in 2012.

[pcosmar]

You mean we get an extra year?! Awesome! I thought the world was gonna end in 2012.

Nothing is guaranteed.