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Re: US DOD FIREBALL RELEASE

 
>> True.  Planetary defense, or asteroid deflection is an expensive
>> undertaking, and I don't think it should be attempted unless there
>> is a known threat of an asteroid or comet that is going to impact
>> Earth.
 
>   I would be real happy if NASA would spend enough
>money so that the next impactor can be located long before it hits.
>But since NASA isn't..

NASA would just LOVE to spend more in an asteroid detection program.
Congress just never funds them, and that is where the real problem is.

>   I think that if Titans were used for future
>NASA small probes to asteroids and comets, this 
>would give the AF the experience it needs for planetary
>defense at a pretty reasonable cost, though still in 
>the $200-$400 million range.

The military have already attempted an asteroid mission
and failed: Clementine.  Clementine did have a successful moon
mapping mission, but they lost the spacecraft due to human error
before it could reach asteroid Geographos.  The sad part is the human
error could of easily been avoided.  They sent a wrong command to
the spacecraft which caused it to expend all of its remaining
propellant and spin out of control.  All command sequences should have 
been tested on the ground first before they were sent to the spacecraft.

Ron Baalke