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Geographos

Hello List,

I am just reading Tom Gehrels’ article ‘Detection of Asteroids’ in the
latest issue of METEORITE! (May 1998, Vol. 4, No.2). On page 18, he
mentions Herrick’s 1979 proposal  to exploit certain asteroids, ‘namely
the deliberate impact of Geographos to make another Panama Canal in the
year 1994; it was considered so far out that it did not make that book,
but it was published posthumously in the "Asteroids" book of 1979 with
an apology of the editor’.

Herrick describes the possible consequences of an impactor like
Geographos:

The minor planet Geographos is estimated to be worth some 900 billion
dollars in nickel and the heavier elements that are mostly locked in the
Earth's core: rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum, gold, etc.
The close-approach minor planets Geographos, Icarus, Betulia, Toro and
others yet to be discovered or recovered have a very special interest to
all of us because, inexorably, sooner or later, they will collide with
the Earth. The effect of such a collision upon the surface of the Earth
may be described briefly as follows:

On land

If on land, it might produce a crater 100 km in diameter, violent
seismic effects beyond that of the greatest recorded earthquake, perhaps
volcanism, a shock wave in the atmosphere capable of destructive effects
for perhaps 1000 km.

By sea

If by sea, it would add great sea waves (tsunami or "tidal waves")
perhaps 1000 m high.

When?

 A first crude calculation indicates that for Geographos, because of the
ominous present orientation of its orbit, the "sooner or later" may well
be in the Third Millenium.
Evidently we must gird ourselves to protect the whole Earth rather than
just our lives, our environment, and our ecology, by devoting a part of
our space program to detecting, reducing, controlling, and utilizing the
predetermined fate of these little planets.

Here’s some more info for those who don’t own Gehrels’ book ‘Asteroids’:

Reduced portions of Geographos were to be brought to predetermined
points on the surface of the Earth where the impact effects would be
constructive and tolerable. The location of this interocean Crater-Canal
would have been the Atrato River in northwestern Colombia.
At the end of his paper, he mentions three goals:

(1) The construction of a new Central American Canal
(2) The replenishment of the earth’s exhaustible resources
(3) The removal of a menace.

Herrick was a real seer (at least with regard to the impact hazards),
because the preliminary draft had been written in 1971 already. It was
not published because it was considered ‘outrageously innovative’ and
‘premature’ in those days. On page 225 of ‘Asteroids’, you find
Herrick’s interesting comment:

‘Asteroid impacts, unlike earthquakes at the present time, are
predictable and controllable, if we develop an adequate program for
discovery, observation, and orbit determination’.


Best wishes from rainy Germany,

Bernd
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