Supercomputer Takes on a Cosmic Threat

It's good to see at least they are thinking about deflecting an asteroid and not waiting until one is bearing down on us.

"From Space.com"

A super-powerful computer has simulated what it might take to keep Earth safe from a menacing asteroid.

Researchers have utilized the number-crunching brainpower of Red Storm—a supercomputer at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Red Storm, a Cray XT3 supercomputer, is the first computer to surpass the 1 terabyte-per-second performance mark—a measure that indicates the capacity of a network of processors to communicate with each other when dealing with the most complex situations—in both classified and unclassified realms

space.com...

Classic arcade game asteroids

www.totalmotorcycle.com...

12 hours to compute what a nuke would do inside an asteroid. That's dense.

Curious. This comes along with a noted increase in the reporting of meteors and meteor related events in recent years. More reports of impacts, unexplained flashes of light, a good shot of one hitting the Moon, etc. I know these things happen all the time but the fact that the reports have increased indicates a few possible things. Could just be because of the available of information and technology. But what if the increase in reports is because of an increase in activity? What if something is happening? I never knew of coorbital objects until the report of one leaving soon. And apparently there is another out there that has been there for 500 years. What if Earth's gravity is slowly breaking it [or another] apart causing small chunks to strike us and the Moon?

Could a slowly developing threat be known that is generating increased attention such as these simulations?

[edit on 15-6-2006 by apc]

1 tera-byte per second?

God, that would be the most badass gaming computer ever.

As for an asteroid hitting us. I was actually thinking it may be a cluster coming toward us.

Hopefully they're all small.