[meteorite-list] Impactor detection budget

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2011 22:20:43 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <814705.33848.qm_at_web36901.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi Richard -

Thanks for your concise report.

Last I heard, the AF had walked away from PS1, and Weiler was not walking in.

Did you learn at your meeting what's going on with PanStarrs operation and funding?

Some more stupid questions:

Assume that every 26 million years or so the Earth gets pounded by a Long Period Comet. (In other words, Clube and Napier's injection model is correct, and not Mueller and Morrison's Nemesis model.

What is the best way of getting the earliest warning of an inbound LPC?
Not the cheapest, but the BEST.

Assume that the ELE for humans (in contrast to other species) is about once per 1,000,000 years. How much is it worth to find our what hit, whether comet or asteroid?

Assume that small 30 m cometissimals hit the Earth quite often and cause 5 kt airbursts and can come from any direction without prior passes. Does a radar or lidar system based on the Moon then make sense for detection?

Do you know if anyone in the US federal government has responsibility for investigating geoblemes or tsunami remains?

Finally, what is the current state of the imaging of 73P's fragment stream?
Will WISE be able to make 2 band observations?

Thanks. That about uses up all my stupidity for the evening.

E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas
Received on Sun 17 Apr 2011 01:20:43 AM PDT