Dangerous Space Rocks Under Watch: Asteroid protection plan proposed (CNN)

[On the Road]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- They are out there, ready to smack into the Earth and wipe out human civilization, but astronomers said on Wednesday they are well on their way to finding every asteroid that poses a threat.

The next task will be to look for smaller objects that might just destroy, say, a city, the experts told the U.S. Senate's Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space. In an update on the Near Earth Object Observation Program, experts told the Senate subcommittee that they are on schedule to finding everything bigger than 1 kilometer in diameter that might approach the planet.

---snip

"The survey officially started in 1998 and to date more than 700 objects of an estimated population of about 1,100 have been discovered, so the effort is now believed to be over 70 percent complete and well on the way to meeting its objective by 2008," NASA's Lindley Johnson told the hearing.

---snip

If an asteroid was confirmed to be on a catastrophic collision course with Earth, the experts said it would take about 30 years to get ready to do anything about it.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/04/08/space.collision.reut/index.html

[hatrack]

1. AKA "How to militarize space with the very purest of motives/excuses"

"We're just trying to protect you from the big, bad asteroids!"

Next, watch for lots of broadcasts of "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" on cable television.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Not so!

Asteroid "defense" uses entirely different technology.

The object isn't to destroy the possible impactors, but to deflect them. That means small amounts of energy -- but very accurate trajectory mathematics.

Of course, they could use any damned lie they want as an excuse, but it's easy to debunk the idea that we need massive firepower to deflect an asteroid, even a "big" one, like 20 km (500 cubic km volume). Just ask an astrophysicist.

--bkl

[On the Road]

3. Yes, I Heard One Method of Deflecting an Asteroid

was simply painting the side facing the sun white or black. If it's caught early enought, the extra solar energy absorbed or deflected will change the trajectory enough to make it miss.

[NNadir]

4. The question is, though, would such a strategy make for a good movie

starring Bruce Willis. I mean, you fly to an asteroid with a paint brush instead of a bomb?