[meteorite-list] Space Radar?

From: Meteorites USA <eric_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:11:39 -0700
Message-ID: <4DA7711B.4040708_at_meteoritesusa.com>

What about IR? What about funding a public or private R&D company/group
that might be able to modify existing, or create new technology for
asteroid defense?

A network of telescopes is a good start. We have that, and millions of
amateur astronomers out there could look skyward too. How many millions
could be generated by a privately funded asteroid hunting program?

So radar is out for early warning? Low powered Doppler? Could space
based radar be used for early Meteorite Fall prediction? Could radar
used for locating smaller closer objects that might impact Earth?

Regards,
Eric



On 4/14/2011 11:18 AM, Matson, Robert D. wrote:
> 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 06:11:39 PM PDT