[meteorite-list] 'Paul Revere' Scientist Suggests Unusual Asteroid Warning System

From: Kevin Fly Hill <khill_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:27:47 2004
Message-ID: <002101c3a8ad$7cd135c0$6d00a8c0_at_coxinternet.com>

Looking for NEO's sorta reminds me of something an old Doc once told me.
"Never test for nuthin' that can't be cured or treated. Cuz, #1 If ya'
don't find nuthin', you just wasted the patient's money, #2 If ya' do find
somethin' ya' just upset the patient over somethin' you can't fix (and still
wasted their money), #3 Ya' just made your self look bad (as in you can't
fix it)" Your not supposed to practice medicine for the doctor's health.
Your supposed to practice medicine for the patient's health
Fly Hill

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 3:44 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] 'Paul Revere' Scientist Suggests Unusual Asteroid
Warning System


>
>
> http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1103/asteroid_warning_system.asp
>
> 'Paul Revere' scientist suggests unusual asteroid warning system
> Jewish World Review
> November 2003
>
> Just last month, a meteorite slammed into a village in eastern India.
>
> Eleven people were injured and two homes were destroyed by
> fire.
>
> Perhaps more unsettling, in 1908, a space rock screamed into
> Earth's atmosphere, exploding in the sky over a remote Siberian
> forest with a force greater than a 10-megaton nuclear blast.
>
> Fires started, wildlife perished and trees fell for miles in every
> direction.
>
> These days, efforts underway to detect comets and asteroids on
> a potential collision course with Earth include an unassuming
> scientist from Ridgewood, N.J., with an idea for a better method.
>
> William A. Hoffman III doesn't have a company, or investors for
> his detection system, called "Looking out for you." But he
> received a patent (U.S. No. 6,452,538), and some distinguished
> astronomers say his idea is intriguing.
>
> Hoffman wants to place telescopes on the outer-space side of
> telecommunications satellites where they can continuously scan
> the heavens, free from cloud cover that often hampers earthbound
> telescopes, to look for what astronomers call NEOs, or Near
> Earth Objects.
>
> The data would beam down to a ground station and be sent - for
> a fee - to schools or institutions or individuals who could use it
> to pinpoint the rocks' orbit.
>
> "I can't speak for NASA, but personally I think it's a great idea if
> he can make it work," said Dan Mazenek, an aerospace engineer based at
NASA's
> Langley Research Center and director of a study on how best to search for
large comets
> and asteroids that might strike Earth.
>
> "If he can get the money to put telescopes up there then I'm interested in
the results,"
> said Lucy McFadden.
>
> McFadden was one of thirteen scientists and researchers who signed an open
letter to
> Congress in July warning of the threat from space and urging the
government to invest
> in some kind of system to help guard against a significant hit.
>
> Hoffman is an unimposing man with a polite, professorial manner who
acknowledges
> with good humor that many people might find his idea sort of, well, pie in
the sky. And
> he's also realistic enough to know he'll have to make a lot of noise to
get any investors
> interested.
>
> "If I have to fund it myself it's not going to happen at all," he said.
>
> He believes colleges and universities without an astronomy program might
be willing to
> pay for the telescope data.
>
> And individuals could access it via the Internet, where subscription fees
and advertising
> might bring in revenue.
>
> "There are lots and lots of people that would buy into the idea of helping
protect the
> Earth by signing onto a program like this," said Kelly Beatty, executive
editor of Sky &
> Telescope magazine. Whether they would pay for the privilege is another
question, he
> added.
>
> Beatty and others also raised numerous questions about technical aspects
of Hoffman's
> idea.
>
> Would the telecommunications companies that own the satellites agree to
the plan?
>
> Would cosmic rays interfere with the images?
>
> How exactly would the raw data be processed into pictures of the heavens?
>
> And perhaps the biggest issue: cost.
>
> "We always ask, could this be accomplished from the ground?" said Neil
deGrasse
> Tyson, an astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium at the
American
> Museum of Natural History. He was skeptical of Hoffman's plan, he said,
because "it's
> more expensive to do anything in space."
>
> But Tyson, who also signed the July letter to Congress, agreed there was a
need to get
> something in place to identify dangerous space rocks.
>
> "There is no organized effort to monitor the sky continuously," he said.
>
> Hoffman, a graduate of Wayne High School who attended the Air Force
Academy and
> received his doctorate in organic chemistry from Stevens Institute,
acknowledged the
> challenges but welcomed any scrutiny.
>
> "The more people that start paying attention to this idea, the more likely
it's all going to
> work," said Hoffman, who spent his career working for a number of chemical
companies
> including Union Carbide before becoming a chemical industry consultant.
>
> Hoffman said the beauty of his early warning system is its relatively low
cost.
>
> He estimates putting the first telescope up might fall in the range of $2
million to $3
> million, much of which would pay for the extensive testing needed to make
sure the
> piggybacked telescope wouldn't interfere with the satellite's primary job
of sending
> phone or TV signals down to earth.
>
> The communications satellites are perfect, he said, because they are
geo-stationary.
> That is, they stay in one spot, moving as the earth moves so the
telescopes would be
> positioned around the planet and could watch wide areas of space.
>
> "You're watching all the time; you're seeing a movie of the stars," said
Hoffman.
>
> As for actually seeing his dream become real, Hoffman acknowledges many
hurdles.
>
> "Somebody's got to agree that it can go on their satellite and somebody's
going to be
> involved in the collection and distribution of the data," he said.
>
> Several satellite operators, including PanAmSat and Loral Skynet, couldn't
find anyone
> to comment on Hoffman's plan.
>
> Hoffman said he approached a number of large corporations, including
Disney, Time
> Warner, and Kodak, to gauge their interest.
>
> The corporate interest hasn't exactly been high, he admits, although he's
contacting
> some companies again in light of the scientists' July letter to Congress.
>
> The 58-year-old amateur astronomer also said that although he'd enjoy
reaping
> financial benefits from his project, he wouldn't mind if the government
paid him
> something nominal for his patent if they promised to put the system in
place.
>
> Astronomers point to the 1994 collision of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with
Jupiter as
> an example of the force and devastation that can occur when one of a swarm
of comets
> and asteroids in our solar system slams into a planet.
>
> The massive blast created a dust cloud larger than Earth itself.
>
> "You don't want to say `Gee, we missed that one,'" said Hoffman.
>
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Received on Tue 11 Nov 2003 06:42:36 PM PST