h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today (June 20th, 2002) there was an article on the news about an asteroid "the size of a football pitch" (that UK football, Americans ) missed the earth by 75,000 Kilometres. If it had hit, it would have destroyed an area the size of Greater Manchester.

the posibility of a meteor or asteroid hitting the earth is very real. Why don't we have a pan-national defence plan? We have missile technology and space technology as well as atomic weapons. Why don't we have a plan to destroy such a menace, which could potentially wipe us out, like the dinosaurs?

Recently, a Liberal Democrat (UK Political Party, third-largest in Britain) ask questions in Parliament about this very issue. I read a write-up basically suggesting that this was a silly and ridiculous thing to bring-up. Why? Because it's like that film Armageddon?!

Does anyone else think we're being idiots by not making plans to save our civilisation and perhaps our race from one of these marauding rocks?

Zagreb

Maybe an extinction-level event could be considered a good thing for this planet, so perhaps we should do nothing...

It's a little scary that they didn't notice this big bit of rock until after it had passed, but I think they did, and didn't want panic. Although if the government had let us know, I'm surethey would have used the news to let some rail figures out, or something.

it may only have destroyed manchester but the devestation would have been far greater.
And we do have some plans - the US are goibg to strap a lot of h-bombs to the last remaining Saturn V (as used by apollo)and try and detonate it right to knock it off course. Good look to them.

It said it would have destroyed an area the size of Manchester, not Manchester itself

It's good if the United States has some sort of plan but I don't think we can simply rely on the US to sort things out. The whole world should have a plan. The other nuclear and space powers should chip-in a bit. The US can't really combat such a threat on it's own. It needs help.

Panic not. My life's such s**t at the moment, there's no chance of me getting an opt-out in the form of a asteriod hitting us. When I start to get my life back on track, pay off my debts etc. that's when it'll strike!!

Hmm, I think that would require cooperation on an unprecendented level between countries, and they're not going to do that any time soon. If it should happen that an asteroid due to hit the earth in, say, 50 years, was found, and confirmed that it absolutely was going to wipe out the human race, then they might get off their a***s and do something about it.

Oh, and how do you expect to spot a lump of rock the size of a football pitch out in space? That's worse than your average needle in a haystack problem, I think you'll find.

I'd agree with MaW, especially as the rock in question was on a heading that put it between ourselves and the sun... there's no way of spotting it at that angle.

Oh, and we've all had it in 2880 anyway...

have a look at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1910000/1910518.stm

"The dinosaurs died out because they didn't have a SpaceGuard programme."

The big extinction even that happened with the dinos seem to happen only every 100 million years or so. I don't think we have to worry about that. But it seems when we are looking at the archeological record, there have been several small hits that have had big influences on human history. The mayan civilization might have been wiped out because of it, asteroids might have caused the dark ages, and imagine if Tunguska had happened in a populated area.

I think that countries need to start pointing those nukes skywards, instead of at small, Taliban hidey-holes.
Though the idea that mass extinction off all humanity is a "good thing" is probably accurate. We've all done a lot of damage to the environment, and some countries still ignore how much harm they are doing (we're looking at you, Mr Bush...). Vaping a super-power might actually help us as a whole (If it lands on Mr Gates, all the better ).
There's also the religious implications. If a meteor wiped out America, then you can bet that Bin Ladin would call it a sign from god. If it was vice versa, then Bush and Blair would probably congratulate the military's improved airstrike capability.

Spaceguard might only be partially effective - it's primary purpose would be to determine the trajectories of all rocks that have orbits close to the sun, and that cross Earth's path. If everything was working properly you might have years, maybe decades, to prepare for an impact event.

There are lots of other rocks and comets however, that have long orbits, and that go well out into the far reaches of the solar system, and there is a smaller chance that they might also impact the earth. In this case, we might get a few weeks notice, at best.

Still, I think doing something is better than doing nothing. If we had the technologies to prevent an impact, but decided that it wasn't in our interest to do so, and then a city was wiped out by an asteroid that could have been detected, how would we feel about it?

Depends on the city... anyone want to nominate a city for total destruction








Sorry, couldn't resist that one!

Depends on where it happened. If it wiped out a part of India for example, I doubt anyone would care.

Have you considered getting a second mortgage? Perhaps some storecards or a new visa?

Just a suggestion

Liam.

Some countries to aim at;
Mexico City: It's too big to miss!
Paris: It looked cool on Armageddon.
Holywood: Saves the special effects crew time and money.
New York: Everything happens in New York. Godzilla, Armageddon, Spider Man...
Timbucktoo: Real place, but who knows it's there?
London: Who'd notice?

Add Milton Keynes to your list

I can imagine the speech if it ever happened.

"I have bad news and good news. It is true we were unable to steer the asteroid away from Earth. However, we did manage to alter the trajectory so it hits Texas"

Bush: *In 2D TV voice* Texas. Sounds familiar... General, where is this "Texas" place? Is it in Europe?