[meteorite-list] A crowdfunding campaign is trying to save us from life-threatening asteroids

From: Shawn Alan <shawnalan_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 17 May 2015 13:27:19 -0700
Message-ID: <20150517132719.e8713c95af9984a493c5db01816d4c10.da52079e12.wbe_at_email22.secureserver.net>

Hello Listers

I think we need to work on the human race before we worry about
asteroids

Shawn Alan
IMCA 1633
ebay store http://www.ebay.com/sch/imca1633ny/m.html
Website http://meteoritefalls.com


A crowdfunding campaign is trying to save us from life-threatening
asteroids

If a huge asteroid slammed into the Earth with crushing force tomorrow,
it could swiftly bring an end to all humankind.

 

Luckily, that's not going to happen ? our asteroid analysis and
predictive techniques are advanced enough to tell when a devastating
impact might happen in the near future. But that's not to say an
asteroid like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65m years couldn?t
come hurtling towards us during our life times.

 

These super-impacts happen extremely rarely, so generally everyone's
fairly chilled out about it. The smaller ones, on the other hand, are
much more frequent ? asteroids with diameters of 20m or over come
within close vicinity of the Earth once every 25 years , yet we have
failed to invest in the infrastructure required to spot them before they
arrive.

 

 

Recognising this dearth of ways to protect ourselves from asteroid
attacks, researchers at Iowa State University?s Asteroid Deflection
Research Center have launched a crowd-sourcing campaign to raise funds
for a new kind of defence system.

 

Called the Emergency Asteroid Defence Project (EADP), the hope is to
build a machine capable of identifying and deflecting incoming objects
at very short notice.

 

The Hypervelocity Asteroid Intercept Vehicle (HAIV) would be made of two
parts, working together to kick the asteroid in the opposite direction
to Earth and then obliterate it into lots of harmless pieces in space.

 

But in order to get the project under way, the researchers must raise
$200,000 (?127,000) through their campaign on Indiegogo. This will go
towards designing the blueprints for the vehicle and establishing how it
will be built. As an incentive, funders are being offered gifts such as
astronaut ice cream and a private dinner with the head of the team.

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Received on Sun 17 May 2015 04:27:19 PM PDT