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Originally posted by SeekerofTruth101
I guess in the end, it always boil down to money, or the lack of it.
Creating such systems will not be cheap, as will as the maintenance and the labor for it.
We can simply ignore the threat, of an annual 100ton debris falling on Earth, hoping for the best, or find cheaper but efficient practical ways to deal with it.
Currently, Norad, Nasa and other space observation installations in richer or insecure nations electronically track the globe daily for rocket launches, satellites and high altitude aircrafts. Big rocks can be tracked as well, but unfortunately, it is the 10ton rocks that can level 6 cities at one go that cannot currently be tracked.
Our space rock threat is thus not big rocks, but the small and fast untrackable ones such as those which hit Siberia few days ago.
Perhaps, universities around the world can try to get their science students to come with ideas on how to deal with those small tracks. I am sure out of the many thousands of graduating students, some of them are bound to have a brilliant idea of 2 for some cheap and effective measures.
Anway, its time we look towards space for resources, as at the rate of our consumption, pretty soon resources will be far costly to mine on Earth, and planets/asteroids may be cheaper, the way expensive oil had lead to fracking being a cheaper alternative.
And the best place to look for ideas are from our young, whom are free from funding worries that researchers often have to face, as University fundings comes from both the govt/People and charitable organisations, which can be put to good use rather than to repeat experiments or studies just to get a degree or Phd. At least that would be a direction that has more relavance for mankind.
Originally posted by Taggart
Originally posted by defuntion
Originally posted by CirqueDeTruth
Hey - give me a telescope and a sector of the sky.
My disabled arse would love to sit behind a telescope and have free reign to keep my eyes in space.
It's a big sky right? Why not put unemployed people to work, or give people with disabilities, and opportunity to fill a market in need!!!
Cirque
No offense to you, but how would WE know you're not busy playing farmville or checking your Facebook status when you should be watching your "sector"?
We really need more scientists working on this.
WE ?
Originally posted by andy06shake
How do we defend against massive projectiles moving in excess of Mach 15?
Nukes just fracture them up and are way to slow to be effective.
Lazers and particle beams don't yet have the power to do much either.
Solar sails, well again way to slow, you would need many months if not years to prepare a mission.
Lets face it we need antimatter capabilities and a faster delivery system to stand any chance against these things.
edit on 16-2-2013 by andy06shake because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by andy06shake
reply to post by justwokeup
I agree with with you, i did say we need a faster delivery system, and it seems a better idea to make them miss rather than try to completely annihilate them considering you run the risk of fragmenting them. Even better if we could stear them into the Sun, that way they will not hit anything else.
How are you suggesting we change there trajectory once there?
edit on 18-2-2013 by andy06shake because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by Lady_Tuatha
I just came across this posted on a news site a few hours ago -
Congress to hold hearings on meteorite protection as NASA funds new projects
Looks like a few people are worried.
Originally posted by jiggerj
reply to post by UberL33t
Nature demands that we explore space.
Since we are a part of nature we have only three true goals in life. Meaning that nature doesn't care what we do as long as we:
1. Multiply. Every successful living thing on this planet is designed to spread as far and wide as it can.
2. Eat or be eaten. This drives evolution and renews life in a way that doesn't leave dead and rotting things poisoning the environment.
3. Spread life throughout the universe. This ensures the continuation of life just as mold will spread from one fruit to the next.
If we don't master the exploration of space and start to colonize other planets, we WILL die out from one catastrophe or another.
Originally posted by justwokeup
Originally posted by andy06shake
How do we defend against massive projectiles moving in excess of Mach 15?
Nukes just fracture them up and are way to slow to be effective.
Lazers and particle beams don't yet have the power to do much either.
Solar sails, well again way to slow, you would need many months if not years to prepare a mission.
Lets face it we need antimatter capabilities and a faster delivery system to stand any chance against these things.
edit on 16-2-2013 by andy06shake because: (no reason given)
You detect them early, meet them when they are still distant and nudge them ever so slightly.
We don't have to destroy anything, just make it miss.
A better detection network and a nuclear electric or nuclear thermal propelled spacecraft is what we should be working on. All doable right now if we could be bothered. Which we cant. :-(