Monday, February 19, 2007

It's Deja Vu All over again


OK, Here is the scenario:
  • A group of scientists get together and reach a consensus
  • There is an impending threat to the Earth
  • Although the chances are small (slim) should this occur all life on Earth will be destroyed
  • The planet and its environment would be ruined.
  • They are asking to United Nations to take charge and lead the effort to save us.

Global Warming?? Not quite.

Asteroid Impact! There is a 1 in 45,000 chance that the asteroid Apophis may impact the Earth in 2036 so a group of scientists and engineers are calling for the UN to take charge and lead the effort to draft a plan to make sure that this does not happen. Based on what we have seen with Oil for Food, Raping of children in Africa and IPCC political summaries that do not match the science behind them, it seems to me that the UN cannot lead itself out of a paper bag.

There are only 4 entities that have mastered space travel: The US, Russia, The European Space Agency and China. These 4 countries alone should draft a plan to assess the danger, develop an action plan to counter it and act upon it. All the UN will do is tax us to pay for some lofty ideal that never materializes.

Pravda reports:

Asteroid MN4 otherwise known as Apophis has been designated the most dangerous heavenly body of the century

We basically have two options, destroy the object or nudge it to the side. The big concern with blowing it up is that some of the debris would still head down towards us and, if it is large enough, cause substantial destruction on Earth. Small pieces would burn up in the atmosphere but larger pieces would impact the planet. If any of those pieces should hit in an urban area significant damage and deaths could result.

But we have to keep in mind that the chances of an impact are 1 in 45,000. We should, however, have a hell of a light show. Apophis crosses the Earth's orbit twice every year. In 2036, it may pass close enough to knock out a few communication satellites. That is within the orbit of the moon. We should all get a great view as the asteroid hopefully then continues on never to be heard from again.

StikNstein is also discussing this one

11 Comments:

Blogger Gayle said...

First of all, you are a very busy man!

Secondly, this looks like it will be a very neat blog, and...

thirdly, my answer isn't very scientific but I believe it's pretty factual: If we put the survival of this planet in the hands of the UN we may as well bend over and kiss our butts goodbye.

February 19, 2007 at 11:41 AM  
Blogger Gayle said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

February 19, 2007 at 11:41 AM  
Blogger Gayle said...

That post was deleted by me because my first comment was published twice.

February 19, 2007 at 11:43 AM  
Blogger ABFreedom said...

This is cool... I'll hook you up and introduce this... maybe we can strap Gore to that asteroid before it hits....

February 19, 2007 at 3:35 PM  
Blogger KWR said...

Thanks for stopping by y'all. Yes Gayle I have been very busy lately but unfortunately it not due to blogging. It's all just work with long hours. I'd rather be blogging! Hey - a new bumper sticker.

I'm hoping I can get enough updated info with the news readers to keep this interesting. I like how Dumb Ox has his site and somethign conceptually similar is what I am thinking right now. I don't know how much time I'll have to add commentary but I wanted a place to talk about things outside of climate and weather so that I can keep GCHT on topic.

Thanks for the promo AB. If Apophus hits and we can't direct it away from the planet, maybe we can stear it toward someplace unnecessary like Washington, DC or Toronto :-)

February 19, 2007 at 7:11 PM  
Blogger Gayle said...

LOL! Now that's an idea! :)

February 19, 2007 at 9:02 PM  
Blogger Tim said...

I think I saw this movie... Why on earth would anyone go to the UN for a solution to anything is beyond me.

February 19, 2007 at 9:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looking great, Veritas! I've added Science Today to the D.O. Bloggregator... should show up with your next post. Big Blue Wave (bless her heart) posts up a storm and pushes us slow pokes off the list! As far as I can tell updated posts get moved up too.

I hope you'll do a nice banner for this and GHCT one of these days and send it over!

Ciao

February 19, 2007 at 10:25 PM  
Blogger KWR said...

I need some help with the banner. I tried to make something I thought would look cool but I couldn't get the two pics to blend together so it looked really bad. I need ot get a copy of photoshop so I can put it together right.

February 20, 2007 at 4:09 PM  
Blogger ABFreedom said...

Uh .... silly question ... What happens if it hits the moon at just the right angle... sends the moon into the earth, bounces us over to mercury, and sends mercury into the corner pocket of the sun ... biggest damn solar pool game ya ever seen ... LOL

February 20, 2007 at 7:36 PM  
Blogger KWR said...

Well if we bounce over to Mercury then I guess we'd better get to work on reducing them CO2 emissions 'cuz global warming will really kick in then. And it will still be George Bush's fault!

February 20, 2007 at 10:00 PM  

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