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Frontispace
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Good News!
Nearly all extinction-level asteroids have been found.
But
did you know that an asteroid measuring as little as 60 meters across hitting the Earth will cause an explosion 1,000 times
that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb?... [Continued] |
What’s wrong with this picture?
The only government actively doing anything in the search for hazardous asteroids is the United States. But consider this, current estimates of the cost of the war in Iraq range from $177 to $200 million a day (about $7.4 million an hour). Yet, the White House contributes only $4 million a year to NEO (near-Earth object) research. Despite growing and alarming evidence of the dangers NEOs pose, this area of astronomy is still largely ignored. In 2004, when the Asian tsunami struck, “authorities” in the region deemed the relatively small cost of an early warning system not worth the investment as they believed such a catastrophe was not due for another 70 years. If the citizens of the affected countries had had foreknowledge of the impending disaster, don’t you think the private sector would have done something about it? It’s up to us to lend a hand in all areas of global concern when bureaucratically hamstrung governments dither. Fixing global warming will entail a monstrous effort. Hunting dangerous asteroids only costs €15. |
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The Inevitable Can Be Avoided ...
Unlike earthquakes, an asteroid impact can be prevented. Isn’t it ironic that the biggest disaster we fear is the only one that we can actually do something about—and yet this science comes last in the funding queue.
Many incorrectly look at asteroid research as yet another environmental concern looking for alms, when in reality it is more of a call to arms. After all, this science advocates preemptive defence against an incoming missile that, if large enough, could spell our doom. ... [Continued]
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Deep Impact—False Impression! From a purely defensive point of view, one could be forgiven for being under the impression that we have nearly licked this asteroid hazard thing after NASA’s phenomenal success with operation Deep Impact on July 4, 2005. The tricky bit was being able to whack a comet bang on the nose 83 million miles from Earth with a projectile traveling at 23,000 mph. As scientist Don Yeomans said, "it was like trying to hit a bullet with another bullet, while filming it from a third."
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[Continued]
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Why Governments Do Almost Nothing I initially thought that the powers that be, the blokes with budgets and degrees as long as your arm, must have some sort of emergency system in place. That some sort of real life Bruce Willis with an array of scientific wizardry would kick into gear and do stuff. The reality is that asteroid hunters don’t have the funds to hold a firework display, never mind
to launch something orbitally. ... [Continued]
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Asteroids Could Help Save the World Too often, the negative aspect of asteroids is highlighted on the big screen and in the media. Predictions of megacatastrophes associated with this phenomenon tend to focus on our fears rather than highlighting the fact that one day asteroids could save our planet.
Perhaps a Hollywood script that ends with Bruce Willis a billionaire instead of vaporising him into molecules would help? Perhaps movie about some brave entrepreneur who not only saves the world by deflecting an incoming asteroid by placing a thruster on it (as opposed to blowing it up) but manages to bring safely into Earth's orbit a giant meteorite rich in some high mineral commodity.
...
[Continued]
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Giant
Meteorites Not on Your List of Concerns?
Then, think of this as a project to save the donkeys! In fact, one could choose one's favourite cause and still
think of this as a project to save it because, ultimately, that's what this science is all about—protecting everything below the ozone layer
from something that is ... More
dangerous than a pretzel! The odds against the
president choking on a pretzel have got to be considerably higher than
those against our being struck by a meteorite. Ask any bookie. ... [Continued]
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FAIR Warning, Horatio
As a kid, I got hooked on C. S.
Forrester’s Horatio Hornblower series based on the life and times of England’s most famous admiral, Horatio Nelson.
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4 minutes, 46 seconds Barely time to change a light bulb—the difference between life and death for millions on July 13, 2029 The closing velocity of an incoming asteroid is about 12.6 km per second, and if it were to cross the Earth's orbit, a "near-miss" distance in thousands of kilometers would translate into a mere few minutes from impact. The 2004MN4 could have caused a catastrophe that would make the Asian Tsunami seem like a walk in the park. This isn't pie-in-the-sky doomsday-type speculation but documented scientific fact. ... [Continued]
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A Pyrotechnic Hint At 2.40 am on June 3, 2004, over western Washington State, residents were awoken by a sudden pyrotechnic display more enthusiastic than the "shock and awe" missiles used on Baghdad. A bloke in Bellingham thought it was a nuclear bomb, and a woman near Monroe thought she was being beamed up by aliens; walls shook, windows rattled. Eighty seismic stations recorded the blast as 1.6 in magnitude, and 911 was swamped— the response, one could say, of an alarmed populace.
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Tsunamis (tidal waves) are most commonly caused by seismic, volcanic, or landslide events
and have the potential to wreak even more havoc than their land-based
counterparts. But, analysts tend to ignore another natural phenomena that is
not nearly as remote as previously believed. As the planet's land mass is
pockmarked with more than 150 known asteroid impact craters, it is assumed that the majority of
hits have occurred at sea. Speculation that many of history's tidal waves were
caused by ocean based impacts is not
as far-fetched as many
would think.
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Spare a Small Thought for a Big Issue After conception
and birth, it can be argued that the biggest single event in life is death.
It's a subject most of us don't like dwelling upon, even in individual circumstances, so expiry en masse, total termination, extinction,
whatever we call it, is perhaps one of the most difficult subjects to
broach ... an instant and understandable turnoff.…[Continued]
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Of course, NEO news is shared; keeping an incoming asteroid a secret would be
impossible! As it is, too many premature scares about near misses have caused unnecessary
hype and perhaps done the science a disservice. However, astronomers have devised
coordinating systems which help avoid these false alarms. Hazardous objects
like the 2004MN4 are now flagged, tracked, and allocated an impact warning level (the Torino
Scale). Only once the asteroid has been double-checked will an announcement made
... [More
Spaceguard News]
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Imagine the pilgrims landing on the East Coast of America
five centuries ago and, instead of encountering bead-swapping natives,
meeting their descendants of today.
What would Columbus’s crew have thought if, still miles from shore, a stealth jet streaked overhead and then a nuclear submarine, six times
one of their ship's size, popped up next to them? ... [Continued]
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Scientists, philosophers, and dreamers have always contemplated variants in other time zones. They have shown us aspects from other points in time; historians and futurists have discussed and discovered elements of our existence past and future over which we can merely ponder.
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The next giant leap for mankind may not be in the form of a footprint on
Mars but a technological baby step here on Earth.
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If
governments of the world each retired a tank and reallocated the
cost towards a global early-warning system, one epic question could
be answered: when will an asteroid impact Earth, and will we have enough
time to try and do something about it?
We
shouldn’t be comparing this science to that conducted by other environmental organizations; instead we should be thinking of trimming our vast
defence budgets. But if the UN struggles to convince governments to
reallocate funding for immediate earthly concerns, what chance do a
handful of astronomers worried about tomorrow have?
This is perhaps a good reason to take some of the responsibility upon
ourselves and help a science that perpetually gets pipped in
favour of a new tank, sub, or fighter plane.
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Predicted Crashes Don't Make the News
Accidents Do! For most of the last century it was common knowledge that hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in motor accidents. Yet even after engineers devised and proved that collapsible steering columns and seat belts could save untold
lives (at no extra cost to the vehicle manufactures), the majority of people were still reluctant to use them. In fact, it was only when legislation was passed and folks were obliged to wear
their seat belts did the number of road fatalities drop.
“Accidents happen to other people” seems to be a fairly general human
attitude. ... [Continued]
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Most of us are familiar with mild concern caused by the sensation of
racing down a runway for takeoff. Even frequent fliers have at some point, if only fleetingly, thought about the consequences of something going wrong.
Like millions of fellow travelers, however, we calculate the odds against a disaster
as slim and sit back to enjoy the flight. We put our faith in the technology of modern
airplane and, these days, airport security and know that there is insurance against disaster. ... [Continued]
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Perhaps those scientists who so
regretted splitting the atom in 1945 when it was used to bomb Hiroshima
and Nagasaki would find some solace if they knew their invention was
ultimately used for the protection of all mankind. In the event of an incoming NEO,
at our current level of technology, the probability is that a nuclear device
will be used in the name of peace (i.e., the defense of life on Earth) either to deflect or destroy
the threatening rock.
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I often
get peculiar looks when it is mentioned that apart from writing and
other business, I have also founded a
nonprofit organization to look for asteroids. Its
difficult
to interpret, but the expression often seems to say “this bloke’s
finally gone off his rocker”. Too long on the Rock.
However
it is precisely the fact that I live on this little island that probably
helped produce the idea. ... [Continued]
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What sparked the idea of forming a society to support asteroid research? The first decent rains at the end of
summer are often associated with electrical power cuts on Hydra Island,
Greece, sometimes accompanied by pyrotechnics as wiring and water get reacquainted after a long, dry
season. People from wet climates regard these high-voltage fireworks with alarm,
while those of us accustomed merely shrug and wonder how long it will be before the lights are fixed. ... [Continued]
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If there is any doubt that unexpected stuff from outer space can inflict grievous bodily harm, just ask Brenda Archer in New Zealand. Her grandson had just left the living room as she was making breakfast when she heard an
"almighty explosion."
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If a documented
one-in-four chance of a catastrophic asteroid impact in 2004 didn't inspire people to take
this threat seriously, what will? A 50-50 chance of surviving an incoming collision? A confirmed impact date? Why wait until its too late?
You
can
make a difference today.
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Debate about how horribly the dinosaurs
died made the news
in 2004. That mass extinction will occur following a large impact is no
longer a debatable issue, but a fact past and future (unless we act).
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Allowing
the Hubble to demise is a bit like the explorers of old telling the bloke
in the crow’s nest that his telescope was not needed … a bit shortsighted, perhaps? The case for the Hubble
telescope is clearly defined by
scientist and author [Robert Zubrin]
of the Mars Society.
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Asteroid Scares:
Why They Won't End... [more]
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Why We Fear Ourselves More than Asteroids:
Why We Look the Other Way... [more]
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British Government
Response to the Report of the Task Force
on Potentially Hazardous Near-Earth Objects
24/02/01 ... [more]
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BBC Horizon, New Asteroid Danger: Earth in the Cosmic Firing Line.
Broadcast Thursday 18th March 1999, (archived) this was instrumental in FAIR's
launch.
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Latest Asteroid News Worldwide: please follow this link for all the [latest
news] on the subject of near-Earth objects (NEOs).
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