[meteorite-list] Space Radar?

From: Richard Kowalski <damoclid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:25:41 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <477657.53118.qm_at_web113611.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

Let's see if this bounces...


Thanks Rob.

I had left out discussing the inverse square law on purpose, but you covered it well.

Eric,

As someone involved in the effort literally on a daily basis, I take this very seriously. It is not really hyperbole for me to say that my team and I are literally responsible for the safety of 7 billion people. Something that is in the back of my mind when I am at work.
 
As I mentioned, we have effectively retired the threat of civilization ending and more importantly, that of an extinction level event. Score: Mammals 1, Dinosaurs 0.

Sleep easy my friend, sleep easy. I certainly do.

I don't want to minimize the threat of these smaller objects, but I also don't want to over inflate it either. If you feel as strongly about the subject, or any subject, contact your government officials and let them know what your priorities are. If enough voices are raised in support for a particular project, the funding is more likely to appear.

As I mentioned in my first post, the United States is to my knowledge, the only country funding this effort but it should not be that way. In my humble and private opinion, other countries need to step up and take a little responsibility for this too.

Of course no one ever said that this has to be funded by governments. The private sector could fund this one their own. I'd have no problem making our telescopes look like NASCAR.


Cheers

--
Richard Kowalski
Full Moon Photography
IMCA #1081
--- On Thu, 4/14/11, Matson, Robert D. <ROBERT.D.MATSON at saic.com> wrote:
> From: Matson, Robert D. <ROBERT.D.MATSON at saic.com>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Space Radar?
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Thursday, April 14, 2011, 11:18 AM
> Hi Eric,
> 
> There is one crucial aspect of the radar problem that I
> don't
> think anyone here has yet explained which is the main
> reason it
> will never (and ~should~ never) be done. It's not about
> money or
> politics or priorities. It's about geometry. Anything that
> a
> radar can do in space, passive optical detectors can do
> FAR,
> FAR better. Asteroid detection with telescopes is an
> inverse
> square law problem; asteroid detection with radars is a
> range
> to the *4th* power problem. Thus radar is useless for
> early
> warning.
> 
> Where radar is VERY useful is for pinging NEOs that have
> already been discovered (quite likely by the Catalina Sky
> Survey) in order to refine the knowledge of their exact
> orbits.
> We can only do this for NEOs that come quite close to
> earth
> (due to that pesky 1/range^4 factor), and thanks to their
> enormous size ground-based radars will always be far more
> sensitive and powerful than anything we could put up in
> orbit.
> 
> --Rob
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com]
> On Behalf Of
> Meteorites USA
> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 11:02 AM
> To: Richard A. Kowalski
> Cc: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Space Radar?
> 
> I've got an idea. (imagine that) ;)
> 
> Since funding for space programs and missions seems to be
> so damned hard
> to get, and budget cuts usually effect the space program
> first. Perhaps
> someone should package this program/mission as a defense
> program. A
> private company seems to get a government defense contract
> much easier
> than a scientific study and research grant right?
> 
> Technically this is a war of our world. We're a sitting
> duck in a solar
> system sized pond for those 140m and 1km sized objects.
> Anything larger
> than 140m can do serious damage, kill millions of people,
> cause hundreds
> of billions of dollars in damage, and damage the
> infrastructure of our
> nation to an extent it would cripple us on a national
> security and
> financial level such that's never been seen before in the
> history of
> humanity.
> 
> After effects from an impact of even a 140m sized object
> say on
> Manhattan Island NY would wipe out all of downtown New York
> City,
> killing over 10 million people and destroying a world
> financial hub. 
> Disease would run rampant, hospitals for hundreds of miles
> around would
> fill with the injured, and our first responder system would
> be
> overwhelmed. It was overwhelmed with 9/11. I couldn't
> imagine an
> asteroid strike. Not that an asteroid would slam New York,
> I'm just
> using that as an extreme example. The statistical chance of
> one hitting
> the Earth is very low, much less that it would impact New
> York. One
> could impact in the ocean. 75% chance of that happening
> right?
> 
> Maybe that's why the gov isn't doing much on this?
> Statistics?
> 
> But those statistics are only based on the ones we know
> about. It's the
> one you don't know about that gets you.
> 
> The more I learn about asteroids, meteorites, and where
> they come from,
> the more I realize that there's more out there that we
> don't know, than
> we do know. It's sobering for sure. The more we search, the
> more we
> find. More eyes open looking up gives us a better chance of
> seeing one
> before it surprises us. It just boggles my mind hat the gov
> doesn't
> devote more time to this given that we are finding so many
> larger sized
> asteroids out there at an ever increasing rate. It hasn't
> slowed, it's
> increased, and as technology gets better, I'd hazard a
> guess that we'll
> find ever more.
> 
> Little more than 100 years ago there was a little event in
> Russia that
> leveled thousands of square miles of forest in a remote
> area. Tunguska
> should have been a wake up call for everyone. But alas the
> human memory
> is nothing compared to the cosmic memory of the universe.
> 100 years is
> nothing in cosmic time, and we have no way to know whats
> out there
> unless we're looking up.
> 
> Perhaps ignorance is bliss. Close your eyes everyone, it
> won't hurt
> much. I think people may underestimate the number of rocks
> out there
> with our name on it. Maybe I'm overestimating, but I don't
> think so.
> 
> Sorry if this seems all doom and gloom, but the USA perhaps
> should fund
> this through both a scientific AND and defense related
> mission. Maybe
> involve the private sector since the space program is going
> that way
> anyway. Perhaps there's an industry there waiting to be
> born.
> 
> Regards,
> Eric
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Received on Thu 14 Apr 2011 04:25:41 PM PDT