[meteorite-list] NEO options

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:27:47 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86901B4EF33_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.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.

The analogy is not quite valid, in that there are many positive things
that can be done if you know a NEO is on an earth collision course. It
depends on how big it is (blockbuster? city killer? country killer? planet
killer?) and how much time you've got. The good news is that astronomers
are more likely to find a NEO on a trajectory for impact that won't occur
for many years, than to find one that will impact in a month or less.
Even in the latter case, while you couldn't prevent the impact, you could
at least make an attempt to evacuate the predicted region of impact (that
is, assuming the "region" isn't the entire world! ;-).

If you've got years before impact, the world certainly has the technology,
motivation and resources to at least attempt to prevent it. For example,
we've already proven we can successfully land on an asteroid -- if you've
got a decade or more before impact, one might try something as simple as
spray-painting the asteroid white, and let solar radiation gradually nudge
it into a different, non-intersecting orbit.

--Rob
Received on Tue 11 Nov 2003 06:58:34 PM PST