Russia Targets Asteroid Headed for Earth

[Lionheart]

On Yahoo today, Russia announces they are planning on targeting a large killer asteroid headed for Earth.

MOSCOW – Russia's space agency chief said Wednesday a spacecraft may be dispatched to knock a large asteroid off course and reduce the chances of earth impact, even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely.

Anatoly Perminov told Golos Rossii radio the space agency would hold a meeting soon to assess a mission to Apophis. He said his agency might eventually invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to join the project.
When the 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was first discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated its chances of smashing into Earth in its first flyby, in 2029, at 1-in-37.

Further studies have ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 18,300 miles (29,450 kilometers) from Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters.

NASA had put the chances that Apophis could hit Earth in 2036 as 1-in-45,000. In October, after researchers recalculated the asteroid's path, the agency changed its estimate to 1-in-250,000.
NASA said another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact.

"It wasn't anything to worry about before. Now it's even less so," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Without mentioning NASA's conclusions, Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. "I don't remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032," Perminov said.

I think we were talking about this just yesterday.


Read more here; http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_russia_asteroid_encounter


Bill

 

[GT182]

It's about time someone tried it. Better than being sorry later on if it doesn't work.

Hopefully they all know there are more than just one asteriod out there.... I hope. Calculations have been known to be wrong before, for many things.

 

[Terry]

It's about time someone tried it. Better than being sorry later on if it doesn't work.

And if they hit it wrong and steer it dead on................

 

[Snuffy]

The Ruskies probably saw the movie and figured it for reality and are now trying to make good by proving that Russia can do exactly what the U.S. did ... psssst it was only hollywood guys.

 

[GT182]

And if they hit it wrong and steer it dead on................

Shhhh... that ain't gonna happen Terry. Don't think like that.... you'll scare the living crap out of us all. 2012 is too much for some to think about, let alone this.

 

[Marlin]

even though U.S. scientists say such a scenario is unlikely.

Even I know that we are going to get hit again. Unlikely??? What the heck are they thinking?

 

[cheezyflier]

interesting, the name of that asteroid. that name appears somewhere else, too. that's all i'm gonna say about that.

however, what the russians really need is to hire this guy:

 

[Lazerbeak]

Speaking for myself, I don't care if it will hit us or not, I'd rather they develop this stuff and get their practice in NOW rather then later, when it may be too late!

Think of it like the military, isn't it better to have your best weapons developed and tested and your soldiers trained from the get-go, BEFORE a war breaks out? Even if it's an "unlikely" scenario?

We WILL get hit again, best to be ready for it!

 

[Lionheart]

interesting, the name of that asteroid. that name appears somewhere else, too. that's all i'm gonna say about that.

Yes.. In that book. :d In the last chapter. Apophus will hit in a major ocean and create 'the pit' or bottomless pit.

Coincidentally, in that book, they talk about a keyhole, and they use the term 'keyhole' of opportunity at NASA in meeting two objects in trajectories, having a keyhole window of opportunity'.

Mind you, this is 20 and 50 years off in both 'keyholes' or event dates.

Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts..



Bill

 

[Marlin]

A little off topic, but I found kind of a cool website.
http://shadowandsubstance.com/

 

[Cazzie]

Hmmmm, me thinks some Ruskie rocket scientists are looking for some payola.

Besides, we'll all be gone 24 years before 2036!

End of the world party anyone? :ernae::ernae:

Caz

 

[tigisfat]

This just in: I'm unveiling my new plan for winning the lotto. You see, I plan on buying a ticket and winning.

 

[CBris]

Trust someone to name possible "encounter" asteroids after "bad-guy" Egytian gods or stars out of Stargate...

We could call it Mary, but that would be too plain (unless one remembers "Typhoid Mary")...

...and then there is that potato-shaped one (or is that apophis?)... just think - mashed potato on impact - and if it landed in France.... French Fries.

All power to the rocket scientists if they want to practice. But hey, if it's going to happen, then it will and worrying about it isn't going to help. Birth is the 100% death sentence. Everything else is adventure. Emperor, pauper or Bill Gates - we will all end. The fun is in the journey - getting there is inevitable, unavoidable and more likely than the sun coming up tomorrow.

As it is, if you google around, Apophis isn't the only one and certainly not the first to have come close.

 

[PRB]

... All power to the rocket scientists if they want to practice. But hey, if it's going to happen, then it will and worrying about it isn't going to help...

Hmm, so if we see an giant one coming, you know, a real ELEE (that's Earth Life Extinction Event, for you people who missed the giant asteroid movie) and we know how to push it out of the way, we should just sit around and watch it, because “that's life”? Well, at the risk of sounding “too scientific” or “egg-headed” or something, I'll cast my vote for trying to push it out of the way so we don't all get wiped out. Just sayin...

EDIT: And if it's a nickel-iron asteroid, we park it in Earth orbit and mine it. Imagine all the rail-road beams, nails, coat hangars, and paper-clips we can get out of one of those!

 

[Bjoern]

Nice opportunity to test the effect of nuclear warheads in space. At least that's what I would do while I was at it.

 

[Cazzie]

Nice opportunity to test the effect of nuclear warheads in space. At least that's what I would do while I was at it.

That would be a cool light show before extermination.

Instead of one big rock, we get a thousand radioactive little rocks!

Caz, party in my back yard if 2012 doesn't get us, but I'll be 90, so I doubt I'll know any of you.

 

[cheezyflier]

EDIT: And if it's a nickel-iron asteroid, we park it in Earth orbit and mine it. Imagine all the rail-road beams, nails, coat hangars, and paper-clips we can get out of one of those!

dude! i totally like that idea except for one little snag. the resultant gravitational effect it would have, if it was too close, like say, our moon.
it would throw the tides, winds and weather completely out of wack

 

[PRB]

Minor technicality! Hopefully we’re not talking about something big enough to have a significant gravitational impact (oops, bad choice of word, ‘impact’) on our Earth-Moon system. Maybe we can park our new mines at the stable “Lagrange Points”. Of course, they’d be as far away from us as the Moon then, but that’s still closer than hiking all the way out to the asteroid belt to get this stuff.

 

[OleBoy]

If and when. Time will tell. If by chance I'm alive to see whatever it is come streaming down at the earth like a ......asteroid, or whatever else people conjure up, It will be named accordingly. Because the last thing it will have in it's path will be my ass..ets as I'm riding the nookie train outta here. Yeee Haw!!!!!

 

[Bjoern]

dude! i totally like that idea except for one little snag. the resultant gravitational effect it would have, if it was too close, like say, our moon.
it would throw the tides, winds and weather completely out of wack

That thing is just 270m in size, I doubt it would be worth mining at all respectively have a negative effect on tides and weather.

Just get stuff done and take resources from the asteroid belt beween Mars and Jupiter. It's about time I get my own battlecruiser with planetbusting capabilities.