Will an asteroid ever collide with the earth?

Im very interested in peoples views on this, also peoples views on how it could be prevented.

A very interesting topic, esp for me (Byrd, where are you????)

It is interesting to note that NASA (or at least thier consultant Rand Corp) has publicly stated that policy is to NOT tell the world if they knew that such an event were coming, in order to prevent worldwide chaos.

You might find this thread very interesting...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It's just a matter of time before an asteroid collides with the earth. Hopefully it is far enough in the future that we have a way to prevent such an incident from occuring.

[Edited on 5-8-2003 by Attero Auctorita]

I've gotten out my crystal ball (see it on the left there) and this is my prediction:

It'll come from our blind-side (from around the sun and toward us), and we'll not pick it up until it's an NEO...and shmack, right up side the kisser...probably a right-hook.

As the other have said, it's just a matter of time. Also I believe that we could not stop an astroid. We are not prepared.

It will happen. It has happened before countless times. Small meteorites hit the earth every day. We probably wouldn't be able to stop an asteroid, because nobody would take it seriously enough to pay for an adequate defence system

[Edited on 4-8-2003 by CiderGood_HeadacheBad]

Yes....its a sure thing.
Prevention is another matter, at best.
I know that a few nations, the US, Russia, etc., have contingent plans in cases of this happening. Multiple MIRV/ICBM's being modified to be targeted against an incoming asteroid. But regardless of the 'vehicle' used as a delivery system, it will assurdly entail the use of a high yield nuclear device(s). I think lasers will be to small in the magnitude to accomplish the goal of diverting (deflection) the path of a incoming asteroid.
That would be the main goal of using a "nuclear device" anyhoo.....the diverting or the changing (ie: deflection)of the path of an incoming asteroid. In doing so, I think you would still have 'fragments' that would hit but nothing on the scale or magnitude of 'extinction' or 'catastrophic.' Then again...who knows.....
I also think that such an event would bring serious world wide chaos or hysteria. The governments would only be able to hold back such information for a very limited time.
I think all this is an inevitable. Its only a matter of "when."


regards
seekerof

I believe it's quite possible. Who knows when it will be. Maybe the human race will already be far exstinct. Maybe we will not know at all and die symountainiously. Who knows, but I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later what will become of the planet.

um, yeah well the religious will say god saved us from the asteriod, some of us will say it was the goverments star wars program, some will say haarp did it, and others will say aliens destroyed it. these are all the likely scenarios of explaniation of us being saved by an astoried. with this being a conspiricy forum i would have thought that more people would have no worries about death from above by an asteriod, since there are oblisks and greys up there, and of course the base on the moon and such.
in my opinion, we will get hit by meteors and comits and lil metorites, but some how i know that we wont be blowen to millions of pieces by a asteriod. to many conspirisys about that would say otherwise yanno.

Does a bear deficate in the woods?

As others have said, It's going to happen. The biggest questions are When, Where and How Big. I like to delude myself and have a little confidence in the agencies watching for neo's but I know it's false security.
I have read some pretty fantastic theories about what they could do if they actually saw it coming in time. Everything from the barrage of ICBMs to actually trying to mount big thruster engines on the rock and even doing the same with Solar sails. My guess is that our best hope (and I do mean HOPE) is the ICBM route with timed nuclear detonations to attempt to divert it early enough. If that doesn't work just get to the highest altitude you can with enough provisions for the rest of your life and wait to die.

Hmm, on second thought, If they tell us I'll just have a party and be done with it

Well - Again - It is just a matter of time.

Hm..preventing it? I doubt it, nature has proved to be more powerful than what we can create, I'm not sure if I have too many examples, but nature's fury usually is more destructive than anything we have thought up.

Can't nuke lightning right? Can't shoot up a twister.

And all we seem to be able to do to combat something is to shoot it up

-WD

It happened in the past (there are LOTS of craters on the earth today, though some are VERY old and worndown)...

Logic would suggest:
It happened before
It can happen again

Not only that... but it happened LOTS of times before. The earth is struck by many meteorites every day (they're usually really small and no one really cares though). What we're worried about are LARGE ones. One the size of a car would effectively wipe out a city. One the size of a house and you can kiss your state goodbye (see where this is going?).

In other words, YES, it will happen again, it's only a matter of time.

I suggest getting two really sophistocated space shuttles, an oil drilling team and a nuke or two ready... I'll call Bruce Willis.

It will someday, we have no chance against it. But the question is... will every man in the world have their hand in their pants right before it happens?

We'll go with yes on that one... however, with any luck. I'll be one of the lucky ones who happens to be near a woman at the time instead.

Has anyone considered the possibility that a government or the NWO could claim there was an earth bound asteroid obscured by the sun.

They could then use this as an excuse to launch nuclear weapons into space.

This would then probably kick start WWIII or they could land the nuke where they liked and claim it was the asteroid and it must have had a high radioactive content which would explain the nuclear fall out.

I think its pretty damn obvious that we will have a collision sometime, just because we are around it does'nt mean its just going to stop, lol. the best idea for destroying an asteroid is to land on it and drill down and plant some nukes in it, just like in the film " Deep Impact".

There will be a collision with Earth some time, maybe not in our life times but it is inevitable. Also we're all doomed except for our governments, I'm sure they already have their contingency plans ready.

I think on "Horizon BBC 2" they were exploring this possibility, and scientist actually found one that would hit in 800 years time. Atleast we don't need to worry about it

Absolutely, yes.
Asteroid destruction calculator
Can we destroy or prevent it? We must be lucky...

Some quick thoughts...

There was a higher rate of asteroid impacts in the distant past because the then still forming solar system was loaded with things that weren't big enough to become planets. Because the earth is littered with craters doesn't mean that we're destined to get hit with a 'big one' every few years.

NASA has, actually, sent many probes to explore asteroids. It's even LANDED some probes on asteroids. Could this practice have been for more than just science?

The big issue is detection. Even with every ICBM in the world aimed at a large asteroid, by the time it was 'in range' of those weapons, it would be too late to deflect it. If an asteroid is spotted years in advance, though, even a small effort (a handful of bombs delivered via probes) might be enough to alter its orbit around the sun.

Might the solar system contain evidence of 'deflected' asteroids?

In Revelations it speaks of an angel throwing a giant rock into the earth. What does that sound to you?