Japan just bombed an asteroid

www.theguardian.com...

A Japanese spacecraft has “bombed” a speeding asteroid 187m miles (300m km) from Earth in an attempt to retrieve material that could offer scientists new clues about the origins of life on the planet. The Hayabusa 2 probe released the device – called a small carry-on impact – on Friday as it hovered 500 metres above the asteroid Ryugu, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa).

Yes, the samples will be important, but do you guess what is most important of all about human ability to be able to target and even land on an asteroid generally?

For the first time in Creation the earth has a potential defense against extinction level events while the human is around to push a button, through the human technology. This is evolution at its best. Effectively, through our species, evolution has nearly eradicated the risk of the earth ever having to tolerate a large asteroid impact again if humans are present. We have paid our way and earned our keep in this department of enetrprise it appears.

We should not now miss the warning of anything large enough to be a risk to us getting past our eye to the sky. We have been able to land on and cause an explosion on an asteroid. I guess the remaining factor to be considered is if we could deliver an explosion powerful enough and far enough away to eliminate the threat of a trillion ton 10 km diameter asteroid? If that becomes possible then the earth has found a way for protecting itself from what happened 65 million years ago when practically all life was wiped out. Godzilla had no tech savvy with its pea brain and huge nasty teeth. Nature had to get back to the drawing board with a lesson learned that time.

Humans can be a very useful tool to nature indeed. We are not all bad. She just needs to evolve us out of our destructive side when the time is right.

We have come a long way. I hope we don't blow it and go back to something violent like the dark ages.

Cool..
did not even know Japan had a space program ..

a reply to: Malak777
Here is a link to UPI where you can watch a video of the probe touching down on the asteroid and firing the kinetic 'bullet' that stirred the surface up for sample collection.

originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: Malak777
Here is a link to UPI where you can watch a video of the probe touching down on the asteroid and firing the kinetic 'bullet' that stirred the surface up for sample collection.

Thank you very much.

originally posted by: Spacespider
Cool..
did not even know Japan had a space program ..

Japanese Space Force

a reply to: Malak777

Hovered?

a reply to: Malak777

Next article-

Death by selfie.

We have achieved nothing

a reply to: SgtHamsandwich

Aren't they the ghost busters?
No no I jest.
Of course they are Japanese astronauts.

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: Malak777

Hovered?

Yes.
Go to the link I posted. You can watch the video. It is pretty fun to watch.

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: SgtHamsandwich

Aren't they the ghost busters?
No no I jest.
Of course they are Japanese astronauts.

They are the best oil drilling crew in the world.

For the first time in Creation the earth has a potential defense against extinction level events....

That depends entirely on their composition.

a reply to: Malak777

I wonder if it was a good idea to whack a 1km asteroid that has a year of 474 days and sort of crosses our path?
link on asteroid

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: Malak777

We have come a long way. I hope we don't blow it and go back to something violent like the dark ages.

The irony taste delicious!

a reply to: Malak777

Well, I would think blowing up any sized asteroid into smaller pieces would be a bad idea, but I think they could shoot some type of propulsion bullets into asteroids at strategic points then steer them away from the asteroid belt and far away from the Earth.

a reply to: Malak777

Japan just bombed an asteroid

They lost a good astronaut.

Definitely think collisions are something to be prepared for.

But something that people haven't really thought about, having been distracted by talk of and research into NEOs (Near-Earth-Objects), are NMOs (Near-MARS-Objects) or, indeed, hypothetical deadly collisions on Mars.

What of, for instance, an ELE-object crashed into Mars? What would be the implications for us here on Earth, or indeed Earth in general (orbits etc). NASA may need to start asking itself those uncomfortable questions.

....or even worse - something far closer to Earth: THE MOON. What if an ELE-object smashed into OUR moon??!!

Probably a more effective way to combat an asteroid is to fire a high-powered laser at a portion of it so that it releases its gasses and it gets pushed into a slightly different orbit. It would take pretty good aim, but maybe they can repurpose one of those CIA satellites with the high-resolution cameras to get a bead on it.

That way the asteroid wouldn't break up into chunks (hopefully), which could be a much bigger problem than just a single asteroid.

We should just steer asteroids into Jupiter.

It's Pearl Harbour all over again

Actually a very fascinating deal, something that needs development. Sooner or later wwe will be in the path of something big.

In related news, the Asteroidians have just declared war on Japan.