NASA has already begun preparations for the arrival of asteroid 99942 Apophis - dubbed the 'God of Chaos' asteroid - which will skim past the earth in 10 years. The asteroid measures 340 meters across and will pass within just 19,000 miles of Earth's surface. Apophis is one of the largest asteroids to pass so close to the Earth's surface and a collision with the planet has the potential to be devastating for all life on Earth.
[...] The asteroid is set to get closer to the earth than communication and weather satellites in orbit. Most satellites in Earth's orbit are geostationary orbit 36,000 km away (22,236 miles) from the planet.
Apophis is travelling at almost 25,000 mph meaning a slight detour from its trajectory could be catastrophic.
Apophis' size and proximity to Earth have resulted in it being categorised as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) and NASA is keen to learn as much from the asteroid as possible to help prevent further asteroid issues in the future.
NASA scientist are aware that as the asteroid flies by the planet in 2029, its orbit trajectory may also change thus raising fears that in the future the massive rock could collide with the planet.
[...] According to some researchers, the immense size of the rock is not a cause for concern as there is a 1 to 100,000 chance of the asteroid striking the earth.
[...] Astronomer Davide Farnocchia added: "We already know that the close encounter with Earth will change Apophis' orbit.
"But our models also show the close approach could change the way this asteroid spins and it is possible that there will be some surfaces changes, like small avalanches."
See also
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday August 20 2019, @09:04PM (7 children)
Ah, but we're all in this game together, it's not like 7.5 billion of us are each playing individually...
Of course, we're all in this game together - kind makes nuking Mars sound a little less loony.
When people bitch about the cost of developing a NEO steering capability, ask them how much they would spend to save 75,000 human lives? Makes a 3 billion dollar mission sound cheap, in those terms.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday August 20 2019, @11:24PM (3 children)
Nuking Mars is loony, because Mars can't hold onto a released atmosphere. Domes are reasonable, and even domed valleys are doable. Doming the planet, which is what it would take to hold onto the atmosphere, isn't reasonable with any foreseeable technology.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 20 2019, @11:37PM
Dome it with and atmosphere using the relativistic electrons entering the nucleus of 299-Mc to hold it near the planet.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 21 2019, @12:08AM
I don't like the nuke Mars plan, but it should take a pretty long time for Mars to lose its atmosphere. Long enough to come up with solutions.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 21 2019, @01:34AM
Like certain loose cannon politicians, what's not loony is getting people talking about it like it's really going to happen and "correcting your wrongheaded stupid crazy unworkable" ideas.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday August 20 2019, @11:32PM (2 children)
Depends on how brown those human lives are. Africa? Fuck em. India? Fuck em. Hell, migrants at the US southern border? Fuck em.
Some middling US city? Billions will be spent figuring out how to avoid such a catastrophe.
Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 21 2019, @01:48AM
70% chance that the NEO is going down in an ocean - that's a lot of Tsunami heading for high value real-estate.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Wednesday August 21 2019, @09:12AM
I vote India, it would look better afterwards. But the human poo fall-out will be raining down on the rest of us for years afterwards.