Somewhere out there is a killer asteroid with our name on it.

[Atlas14]

Killer asteroids are effective measures of population control.

 

[Leifmk]

Actually blowing up a asteroid just makes it more dangerous.

Depends on the scale of the threat to begin with. City-killer, region-killer, continent-killer or planet-killer: The smallest types might be blown into small enough bits that they more or less burn up in the atmosphere without doing much damage, the largest ones might pack enough kinetic energy to sterilize the Earth's surface regardless of whether it is delivered by one large chunk or one immense cloud of dust. In the middle of the range, sure, blowing it up might change the damage from one region getting seriously overkilled into a larger region getting "just plain killed".

Figuring out how to blow up an asteroid of such a size is left as an exercise for the reader.

 

[thetrooper]

Figuring out how to blow up an asteroid of such a size is left as an exercise for the reader.

CFC OT is (in)famous for it's huge stock of armchair generals. No problem at all.

 

[Truronian]

Well, we do name stars out there for like 19.95 http://www.starregistry.com/ so I have no doubt that someone has likely named our killer asteroid. So, its just a matter of time until the earth is destroyed by "Gertrude Smith" or some other name.

For the supervillian on a budget.

 

[Sophie 378]

Somewhere out there is a killer asteroid with our name on it, and scientists, astronauts, diplomats and space law experts are just starting to draw up a plan for dealing with it - that is, once we figure out which asteroid it is.

Full article here : http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/16/58617.aspx

Somehow, I can't picture diplomacy having much of an effect on a giant rock.

"So, how are you today, then, Mr Asteroid?"
...
"Had your holidays, have you?"
...
"Are you going anywhere nice?"
...
"Well, there's this little place called Earth, and you see, they're a bit worried that you might come..."
...
"Could you possibly go somewhere else instead?"
...
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"
...

... etc ...

 

[Truronian]

Somehow, I can't picture diplomacy having much of an effect on a giant rock.

"So, how are you today, then, Mr Asteroid?"
...
"Had your holidays, have you?"
...
"Are you going anywhere nice?"
...
"Well, there's this little place called Earth, and you see, they're a bit worried that you might come..."
...
"Could you possibly go somewhere else instead?"
...
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"
...

... etc ...

I'd trust them over the space lawyers...

 

[Yeeek]

Well there are diplomats for a good reason. Who will funds the mission to save humanity from its doom? Who will send the men, who will harbor the structures to build such machine and so on.

 

[cthom]

it's about time governments came out with public information films on how to survive impact. something along the lines of 'duck and cover' would be fine

 

[Masquerouge]

I think that, should we learn that there is an asteroid coming right at us in the near future, it will be a good test. Either we just can't agree on how to destroy it, and we deserve to be wiped out, or we manage to destroy it, and then it means we've grown up a bit.

 

[Yuri2356]

Nah, most of us here would be gone when any asteroid hit us.

It's better to invest on things that will affect us in the immediate future.

Giant ground-Lasers do affect the immediate future. They give us an easy way to push spacecraft off on long journeys. (Improving their effective range by making them less reliant on their own Delta-V)

Also, the technologies that can be used to deflect an asteroid, can be used to guide it into a nice parking orbit over the Earth, where it can be hollowed out into a nice roomy lading base for space related activities.

Anchor for a space station that didn't need to be lifted from the Earth = Money Saved.

Eventual cheep access to the millions of tons of raw metal floating around in space = Prosperity.

 

[El_Machinae]

The Space Elevator is supposed to use a ground-based laser to push up the elevator car.

I really like the idea of putting an asteroid into orbit, especially one with valuable metals inside.

 

[Quiet Sound]

I was referring to this:

Yeah, that possibility occurred to me after I left the forums.

 

[Nylan]

it's about time governments came out with public information films on how to survive impact. something along the lines of 'duck and cover' would be fine

...memories

 

[Yuri2356]

The Space Elevator is supposed to use a ground-based laser to push up the elevator car.

I really like the idea of putting an asteroid into orbit, especially one with valuable metals inside.

Well, what more efficient way is there to anchor the upper end of the elevator, than by carving a slot into a rock that's already waiting in Geosynch?

 

[Leifmk]

I really like the idea of putting an asteroid into orbit, especially one with valuable metals inside.

Could be quite useful for spaceborne construction projects, yes. I sort of doubt that importing raw materials from space to Earth will ever become economical. Well, maybe Helium-3 for use as fusion fuel, but there won't be much of that in an asteroid.

 

[El_Machinae]

Well, many asteroids are really heavy, hinting that they have heavy metals in abundance. Platinum and Iridium for example. A massive supply of platinum would do the planet good, because it's such a useful metal (and hindered industrially because of its price)

Well, what more efficient way is there to anchor the upper end of the elevator, than by carving a slot into a rock that's already waiting in Geosynch?

I think nudging it into geosynch would be massively expensive in terms of energy. While I'm 'pro-asteroid harvesting', I just don't see such specific arrangement as being viable.

 

[classical_hero]

Somehow, I can't picture diplomacy having much of an effect on a giant rock.

"So, how are you today, then, Mr Asteroid?"
...
"Had your holidays, have you?"
...
"Are you going anywhere nice?"
...
"Well, there's this little place called Earth, and you see, they're a bit worried that you might come..."
...
"Could you possibly go somewhere else instead?"
...
"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"
...

... etc ...

Perhaps we should send the UN to that Job. Perhaps we should make a new organisation called the United Universe to make that no more of the killer asteroids ever come here again.

 

[Yuri2356]

Could be quite useful for spaceborne construction projects, yes. I sort of doubt that importing raw materials from space to Earth will ever become economical. Well, maybe Helium-3 for use as fusion fuel, but there won't be much of that in an asteroid.

What ElMac said, plus - Having materials already up in space would make building spacecraft far less expensive than it is now.

I think nudging it into geosynch would be massively expensive in terms of energy. While I'm 'pro-asteroid harvesting', I just don't see such specific arrangement as being viable.

Well, if we're sending a probe out to latch on to an asteroid and push it into what would become an Orbit of Earth, there shouldn't be much of a difference in energy between parking it low or high. (Since it's coming from a good distance away)

 

[Quiet Sound]

The Space Elevator is supposed to use a ground-based laser to push up the elevator car.

I think this is what you're referring to. It's not a space elevator but a means of propelling small craft into orbit.

 

[Tboy]

Killer asteroids are effective measures of population control.

Good point. I can't help but wonder how bad population overcrowding would be if it wasn't for volcanoes, the black death and other natural disasters.