Many many moons ago when I was a lad … I read about the demise of the dinosaurs and Tunguska and was a bit concerned about us being next for an Asteroid impact. It seemed like we were in Dodge City or Gaza (to bring it up to date) dodging bullets as a way of life.
As I grew up I was under the impression that we had mapped what we could and that we were under no immediate threat. Films like Armageddon appeared to show how we were prepared to act if there was an issue detected. But even though it used current technology we must remember it is still sci fi.
Now I’ve lost count of the number of times that asteroids have just sailed by the Earth like this one and the first we hear about it is after the event. It seems to me that we have no real way of detecting these asteroids at all unless they come from a very narrow window despite what these guys are doing.
Another alternative, if I was feeling a bit paranoid, is that we have a situation like Deep Impact another film where an asteroid is detected, like this one, and we are just preparing for the impact. All the, err…, important people like the politicians are going to be saved and we are left behind so they have prepared the shelters and thus don’t see the need of looking for any more.
Regardless of the reason we had a near miss, again, and even if we had the technology to do anything about it we are just not detecting them in time to do anything at all.
It may be low probability but the consequences are dire. Maybe it’s just my nature but I think before we start launching satellites to hunt for alien Earths we should make sure that we have prepared for the expected and made ourselves as safe as possible. How difficult can it be to build some satellites to detect rogue asteroids and some real space nukes to destroy or deflect them?
Sadly if we did detect alien life you can bet there would be a massive programme to build some space nukes then. I think we have our priorities a bit out of kilter.
The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was.
Dodging bullets
Many many moons ago when I was a lad … I read about the demise of the dinosaurs and Tunguska and was a bit concerned about us being next for an Asteroid impact. It seemed like we were in Dodge City or Gaza (to bring it up to date) dodging bullets as a way of life.
As I grew up I was under the impression that we had mapped what we could and that we were under no immediate threat. Films like Armageddon appeared to show how we were prepared to act if there was an issue detected. But even though it used current technology we must remember it is still sci fi.
Now I’ve lost count of the number of times that asteroids have just sailed by the Earth like this one and the first we hear about it is after the event. It seems to me that we have no real way of detecting these asteroids at all unless they come from a very narrow window despite what these guys are doing.
Another alternative, if I was feeling a bit paranoid, is that we have a situation like Deep Impact another film where an asteroid is detected, like this one, and we are just preparing for the impact. All the, err…, important people like the politicians are going to be saved and we are left behind so they have prepared the shelters and thus don’t see the need of looking for any more.
Regardless of the reason we had a near miss, again, and even if we had the technology to do anything about it we are just not detecting them in time to do anything at all.
It may be low probability but the consequences are dire. Maybe it’s just my nature but I think before we start launching satellites to hunt for alien Earths we should make sure that we have prepared for the expected and made ourselves as safe as possible. How difficult can it be to build some satellites to detect rogue asteroids and some real space nukes to destroy or deflect them?
Sadly if we did detect alien life you can bet there would be a massive programme to build some space nukes then. I think we have our priorities a bit out of kilter.