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Underground > Laboratory >

Asteroid Defense: the Big Windbag?

17:24 / 29.08.02

As per Tom's suggestion:

The latest from New Scientist.

Computer simulations by Erik Asphaug of the University of California at Santa Cruz suggest that a rubbly asteroid would absorb so much energy from a nuclear blast that the explosion would have little effect on the course of one of these "cosmic beanbags".
A blast would also risk splitting an asteroid or comet into dangerous fragments that would still head for Earth.
It would be far better, says Hermann Burchard of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, to send spacecraft to fly alongside the threatening object and inflate a giant bag some kilometres wide, using gas produced by a chemical reaction. The spacecraft would then push the bag against the asteroid.

The question being - is all this doom-mongering a bit much? How much does this miniscule threat really endanger us? Why do we get stories on it every few weeks? Is fear of space distracting us from fear at home? Is the "killer asteroid" to the "War on Terror" what the Little Green Man was to the Cold War? Or are we all going to be vaporized by hurtling space rocks?

21:18 / 29.08.02

I did a little research on this when it was discussed before.

http://www.barbelith.com/underground/topic.php?id=7387#post122421

Is it worth it? One can ask that about anything, I suppose. However, I believe quite strongly in the oppurtunity for study that this provides.
In order to prevent asteroid collisions you have to set up an astronomical infrastructure. That in itself is worthwhile.

In terms of saving lives, I think that it will be worth it over a couple of centuries. The thing is, if we don't attempt to do something about it now, then we won't have any idea how to do it in the future. We probably won't be wiped out, but we could lose the odd city.

08:34 / 30.08.02

I don't know - I mean of course I appreciate the scale of the potential catastrophe, and clearly it seems reasonable to actually have some people working on the kinds of technologies that you might need to use in order to avert such a disaster, but really... it's in the press all the time at the moment. It's hysteria building clap-trap for the foreseeable future and I'm stunned by the amount of coverage it gets. Yes, it makes for good stories, but really.... Anyone out there prepared to try and convince me that the threat is real?

15:14 / 30.08.02

As I hinted at, I think the *concern* about Space Death is symptomatic of other social pressures - the War on Terror being another face of the same social demon.

But the threat is, although highly improbable, quite real. Several million dinosaurs can't be wrong, after all.

20:03 / 30.08.02

It's potentially real, but I'm inclined to believe that the hysteria over it is nothing to do with any science. It's an expression of millennial / apocalyptic fear. In itself, that makes me suspicious.

I'm also suspicious of the idea that we could do anything about it anyway.

23:38 / 30.08.02

We'd probably figure out some interesting stuff trying to defend the planet against something that may never happen. Hey, it's something to spend a shitload of money on that isn't war- how else are we going to keep capitalism rolling?

00:08 / 31.08.02

It's a way to militarize space without alarming anyone. Bit like Philip II of Spain saying, "Don't fret, Liz, we're building this gigantic armada to fight sea serpents."