Science and Inquiry discussion

There has been talk of this for some time, but this is the first confirmation that it is being seriously considered.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/201...

What? I don't think we have anything near the technology to be able to do such a thing....

They'd probably use metric instead of imperial measurements and crash it into California. :D

Haha. That's always a risk.

If you haven't seen the type of space vehicle that has been proposed for such a mission, here's one article with an image of it. It's basically an inflatable bucket that contracts around the asteroid once it's in the bucket:

http://www.thespacereview.com/article...

Steve wrote: "Haha. That's always a risk.

If you haven't seen the type of space vehicle that has been proposed for such a mission, here's one article with an image of it. It's basically an inflatable bucket t..."


Interesting, thanks for the link!

Hmmm, well, I guess it depends on size for one thing. I know we've done some interesting things with satellites and the Hubble Space Telescope for example. I guess I was thinking it would have to be big asteroids and some complicated 'mining' of them for it to be profitable/useful....

Thanks Again!

Who's going to clean up after this?

Are they "simply" going to crash trash into the moon?

The likely "partnership" between the Feds(Department of Defense?, Department of Energy?, NASA?) and some Corporation should sober us all to the side effects of this. Not one of the "usual suspects" have an honorable history concerning cleaning up after themselves.

Space junk is already circling the Earth. Now it will be circling the moon. Large pieces of space trash nearer to our own neighborhood that will land who-knows-where is a result that should sober us all.

Mosca wrote: Who's going to clean up after this?


Actually, this project also has applications for dealing with space debris. If you look at the spacecraft in the link I gave above you can see that it could just as easily be used to capture a piece of space junk as it could a small asteroid.

If space debris is an issue that truly concerns you, you might be interested in this article which discusses the major legal and technical issues:

http://www.thespacereview.com/article...

A second new venture company has announced that it is going into the asteroid mining business. Details here:

http://www.thespacereview.com/article...

What a wonderful night on Maui. A lunar eclipse resulting in a blood red moon, Mars above it, Scorpio to the right, and in the west, Orion's belt and jewels are shinning.

Stan wrote: "What a wonderful night on Maui. A lunar eclipse resulting in a blood red moon, Mars above it, Scorpio to the right, and in the west, Orion's belt and jewels are shinning."

Ahh--trying to make us all jealous! (Heavy rains and even sleet all day long in Virginia.) :-)

It was clear here, but I couldn't stay up and didn't get up to see it. :(

David wrote: "Stan wrote: "What a wonderful night on Maui. A lunar eclipse resulting in a blood red moon, Mars above it, Scorpio to the right, and in the west, Orion's belt and jewels are shinning."

Ahh--tryin..."

Yes, we were lucky on Maui. Oahu had a lot more cloud cover. The moon was covered at 9:00pm but the deep red happened about 10:00pm.

Heavy rain here, and tonight freezing rain? Down in the shivering south.

Ya, there was rain here that turned into snow, that turned into friggin' sleet. it was like the sky was saying "make sure to hide it from Mel"

Stan wrote: "What a wonderful night on Maui. A lunar eclipse resulting in a blood red moon, Mars above it, Scorpio to the right, and in the west, Orion's belt and jewels are shinning."

Thanks, I just swooned :)

Shades of Armageddon - the movie - here are "Helpful Tips For Nuking An Asteroid" by National Geographic

Preparing for a worst-case scenario, scientists are stepping up research into the nuclear option.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/20...