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HUMANITY HAS THE CAPACITY TO AVERT A GLOBALLY DEVASTATING DISASTER-Shapiro et al ‘10
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- SOLVENCY: KINETIC IMPACTORS KINETIC IMPACTORS COULD STOP MID-SIZED NEOS-Shapiro et al ‘10
- TINY ALTERATIONS IN ORBIT WILL BE ENOUGH TO DEFLECT NEOS-Easterbrook ‘08
- SOLVENCY: NUCLEAR WEAPONS NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS CAN PROTECT US AGAINST NEO IMPACT WITHOUT DAMAGE-Shapiro et al ‘10
- NUCLEAR OPTION IS THE ONLY PRACTICAL ONE FOR LARGEST NEOS-Shapiro et al ‘10
- STUDY CONFIRMS THAT A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION COULD DESTROY AN NEO THREAT-Wall ‘10
- WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY TO PREVENT A STRIKE. WE JUST NEED THE INTERNATIONAL WILL-Wall ‘10
- CONVENTIONAL BOMBS SIMPLY DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO DESTROY ASTEROIDS-Wall ‘10
- SOLVENCY: NASA SHOULD LEAD PLANETARY DEFENSE PLANETARY DEFENSE IS A CORE, COMMON SENSE MISSION FOR NASA. THE ALTERNATIVE IS EVACUATION AND DISASTER RESPONSE-Jones ‘11
- NASA IS THE BEST CIVILIAN AGENCY TO OVERSEE NEO DETECTION-Shapiro et al ‘10
- NASA IS A NATURAL HOME FOR THE PROGRAM-Shapiro et al ‘10
- NASA MUST LEAD THE WAY ON NEO DETECTION-Hsu ‘10
- NASA SHOULD ESTABL I SH AN DEFENSE COORDINATION OFFICE FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS-David ‘10
- NASA MUST TAKE UP PLANETARY DEFENSE-UPI ‘10
- SOLVENCY: THE US SHOULD LEAD THE US WILL BE IN THE POSITION TO PROTECT LIFE ON EARTH FROM NEOS-David ‘10
- THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE DEMANDS THAT THE US ADOPT PLANETARY DEFENSE MEASURES-Seamone ‘04
- THE UNITED STATES SHOULD LEAD THE WAY TO DEAL WITH NEO THREAT-Shapiro et al ‘10
- THE US SHOULD TAKE THE LEAD IN DEVELOPING AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR DEALING WITH NEOS-Shapiro et al ‘10
- THE US WILL HAVE TO PLAY THE LEAD ROLE ON NEO DETECTION-Hsu ‘10
- EVEN THOUGH THE THREAT AFFECTS THE WHOLE WORLD, ONLY THE US HAS DEVELOPED STEPS TO DEAL WITH IT-Morrison ‘06
HUMANITY HAS THE CAPACITY TO AVERT A GLOBALLY DEVASTATING DISASTER-Shapiro et al ‘10 [Irwin; Chair of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Defending Planet Earth:Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies; 2011; http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12842; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] Humanity has the capacity to detect and perhaps to counter such an impending natural disaster. This capacity, and interest in exercising it, have developed and sharply increased in the space age, most likely sparked by the discovery in the late 1980s of the approximately 200-kilometer-diameter Chicxulub Crater formed by an impact 65 million years ago in the Yucatan Peninsula. The asteroid or comet that caused this crater is estimated to have been about 10 kilometers in diameter; its impact wrought global devastation, likely snuffing out species, including dinosaurs, in huge numbers. Later, in the 1990s, the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter emphasized that impacts are currently possible. SOLVENCY: KINETIC IMPACTORS KINETIC IMPACTORS COULD STOP MID-SIZED NEOS-Shapiro et al ‘10 [Irwin; Chair of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Defending Planet Earth:Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies; 2011; http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12842; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] Kinetic impactors are adequate to prevent impacts on Earth by moderate-sized NEOs (many hundreds of meters to 1 kilometer in diameter) with decades of advance warning. The concept has been demonstrated in space, but the result is sensitive to the properties of the NEO and requires further study. TINY ALTERATIONS IN ORBIT WILL BE ENOUGH TO DEFLECT NEOS-Easterbrook ‘08 [Gregg; contributing editor; The Sky Is Falling; The Atlantic; June 2008; http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/06/the-sky-is-falling/6807/1/; retrieved 27 Jun 2011] For any space object approaching a planet, there exists a “keyhole”—a patch in space where the planet’s gravity and the object’s momentum align, causing the asteroid or comet to hurtle toward the planet. Researchers have calculated the keyholes for a few space objects and found that they are tiny, only a few hundred meters across—pinpoints in the immensity of the solar system. You might think of a keyhole as the win-a-free-game opening on the 18th tee of a cheesy, incredibly elaborate miniature-golf course. All around the opening are rotating windmills, giants stomping their feet, dragons walking past, and other obstacles. If your golf ball hits the opening precisely, it will roll down a pipe for a hole in one. Miss by even a bit, and the ball caroms away. Tiny alterations might be enough to deflect a space rock headed toward a keyhole. “The reason I am optimistic about stopping near-Earth-object impacts is that it looks like we won’t need to use fantastic levels of force,” Schweickart says. He envisions a “gravitational tractor,” a spacecraft weighing only a few tons—enough to have a slight gravitational field. If an asteroid’s movements were precisely understood, placing a gravitational tractor in exactly the right place should, ever so slowly, alter the rock’s course, because low levels of gravity from the tractor would tug at the asteroid. The rock’s course would change only by a minuscule amount, but it would miss the hole-in-one pipe to Earth. SOLVENCY: NUCLEAR WEAPONS NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS CAN PROTECT US AGAINST NEO IMPACT WITHOUT DAMAGE-Shapiro et al ‘10 [Irwin; Chair of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Defending Planet Earth:Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies; 2011; http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12842; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] Nuclear explosives can provide considerable protection against a potential NEO impact. This may be the only current means to prevent an impact by a large hazardous object (>500 meters in diameter) with a warning time under a decade or by a larger object (>1 kilometer in diameter) object with a warning time of several decades. With decades of warning for such large objects, the preferred approach uses a standoff detonation. Neutron output has certain advantages (Dearborn, 2004), as the energy coupling is relatively insensitive to the surface composition and density of the NEO. The simulations show that speed changes (ΔV) on the order of 2 cm/s are gravitational binding mostly maintaining the NEO as a single body. About 2 percent of the body mass is ejected, evolving to such a low density that it would likely pose no threat to Earth. Very low yield surface explosives also showed great promise for speed changes on the order of 1 cm/s. As the NEO size decreases and the required yield of the nuclear explosive drops below the tested regime, which extends down to about 0.1 kilotons, the kinetic impact approach will have to be used. NUCLEAR OPTION IS THE ONLY PRACTICAL ONE FOR LARGEST NEOS-Shapiro et al ‘10 [Irwin; Chair of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Defending Planet Earth:Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies; 2011; http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12842; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] Although the nuclear option provides considerable mitigation potential, for NEOs above some size the tested limits of nuclear explosives will become inadequate. Devices in the nuclear stockpile have equivalent energy releases of megatons of TNT, but NEOs larger in diameter than about 10 kilometers are likely to require larger explosive energies, a regime for which devices have not been tested or simulated. Modeling the shock dissipation of highly porous materials appears to be the primary uncertainty for both impactors and standoff bursts. This uncertainty holds particularly true for NEOs with very low density aggregates that can exist only in low-gravity environments. At present, the simulations have not examined the effects of the range of structures, shapes, and rotational states, but with Defense Threat Reduction Agency support to extend the present studies, these simulations could be done. Currently the United States and several other nations maintain nuclear stockpiles and the infrastructure to build them for purposes of national defense. Efforts to reduce those stockpiles continue, but it seems likely that they will exist for some decades. When defense concerns no longer apply, the governments involved may either accept the longer response time for a Manhattan Project-like effort or decide whether adequate safeguards can be developed so that some entity could maintain a small number of nuclear explosive packages to allow humanity to counter an NEO that could, for example, cause mass extinctions. Finding: Other than a large flotilla (100 or more) of massive spacecraft being sent as impactors, nuclear explosions are the only current, practical means for changing the orbit of large NEOs (diameter greater than about 1 kilometer). Nuclear explosions also remain as a backup strategy for somewhat smaller objects if other methods have failed. They may be the only method for dealing with smaller objects when warning time is short, but additional research is necessary for such cases. STUDY CONFIRMS THAT A NUCLEAR EXPLOSION COULD DESTROY AN NEO THREAT-Wall ‘10 [Mike; Senior Writer; Nuke-the-Asteroid Idea Revived to Protect Earth;Space.com; 14 Dec 2010; http://www.space.com/10489-nuke-asteroid-idea-revived-protect-earth.html?; retrieved 27 Jun 2011] If a big asteroid were streaking toward Earth and time were running out, a well-placed nuclear explosion could help humanity avert catastrophe ? and not just in the movies. A new study has injected new life into the old idea of dealing with a potentially threatening space rock by nuking it. The new analysis suggests that a nuclear blast could safely destroy even a relatively large asteroid. And astronauts wouldn't need to bore deep into the space rock, ? la Bruce Willis and his crew in the movie "Armageddon," to implant the bomb. An explosion on the asteroid's surface would likely do the trick, scientists report. "It would be blown to smithereens," said study lead author Bob Weaver of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who presented the findings here Dec. 13 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
[Mike; Senior Writer; Nuke-the-Asteroid Idea Revived to Protect Earth;Space.com; 14 Dec 2010; http://www.space.com/10489-nuke-asteroid-idea-revived-protect-earth.html?; retrieved 27 Jun 2011] Weaver envisions humanity using a nuke in this fashion when there's not much time before impact ? a year or less, perhaps. (With more warning, other options could be on the table ? such as using an explosion to nudge the space rock out of the way of Earth.) Humanity probably has the technological capability to pull off an asteroid-destroying mission right now, Weaver said. The tougher obstacle might be getting the international community to cooperate enough to organize such a strike. With nukes involved, working together might be difficult, he said. "The social and political implications of how to carry out this mission are actually much tougher than the science," Weaver said.
[Mike; Senior Writer; Nuke-the-Asteroid Idea Revived to Protect Earth;Space.com; 14 Dec 2010; http://www.space.com/10489-nuke-asteroid-idea-revived-protect-earth.html?; retrieved 27 Jun 2011] While some people may find the prospect of using nuclear bombs unpalatable even to blast apart asteroids, conventional explosives just couldn't deliver, Weaver said ? at least not for a space rock as big as the one in the team's models. "They're not even close," he said of conventional bombs. "They're orders of magnitude away from being powerful enough." SOLVENCY: NASA SHOULD LEAD PLANETARY DEFENSE PLANETARY DEFENSE IS A CORE, COMMON SENSE MISSION FOR NASA. THE ALTERNATIVE IS EVACUATION AND DISASTER RESPONSE-Jones ‘11 [Tom; astronaut and planetary scientist; Steps for Planetary Defense; National Space Society, 28 May 2011; http://www.nss.org/adastra/volume23/planetarydefense.html; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] With our planned telescopes and space technology, we have two of the three elements necessary to prevent future damaging asteroid impacts. NASA currently searches for the largest NEOs and warns of any asteroid discovered that is potentially hazardous to Earth. New ground-and spacebased search systems will improve our capability to protect against smaller, more numerous asteroids. NASA should design experiments and demonstrations into its asteroid exploration missions that show that NEO deflection is possible. The missing third element for NEO impact prevention is international planning to respond in advance to a future asteroid collision. NASA is wellpositioned to lead domestic and international efforts to produce such a plan. To succeed, the agency must move beyond search, analysis, and warning to develop the practical means for actually changing a threatening NEO's orbit. Without improved NEO search and tracking, experience in deflection, and essential international planning, the only possible U.S. response to a threatened impact would be evacuation, followed by disaster response. If a sizeable random NEO strikes Earth without warning, the damage to the U.S.'s leadership and reputation would be severe — and completely avoidable. Planetary defense is a common sense mission for NASA, one that combines its scientific and technological capacities to prevent a disaster of cosmic dimensions. NASA IS THE BEST CIVILIAN AGENCY TO OVERSEE NEO DETECTION-Shapiro et al ‘10 [Irwin; Chair of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Defending Planet Earth:Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies; 2011; http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12842; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] Among the civilian agencies and departments, NASA has the broadest and deepest familiarity with solar system objects and its associated rendezvous missions. The NSF supports ground-based solar system research, but it traditionally responds to proposals rather than initiating and organizing complex programs (the International Geophysical Year being one of the exceptions). The Departments of Defense and of Energy, however, have by far the most important experience with nuclear explosives, necessary for some active-defense missions for changing NEO orbits. For such missions and their preparations, these departments, or at least the latter, would certainly become involved, with coordination being maintained through the standing committee or task force described above. NASA IS A NATURAL HOME FOR THE PROGRAM-Shapiro et al ‘10 [Irwin; Chair of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Defending Planet Earth:Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies; 2011; http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12842; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] NASA is a possible choice for the lead agency. Within NASA, under its present organization, a natural home for this hazards program would be the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), which deals with solar system science. The current, small hazards program—with an approximately $4 million annual budget—is already housed in this directorate. But the hazards program discussed here would be more effective with its own director and budgetary line item(s) to ensure its viability within the much larger SMD. It would, of course, derive benefits from and provide benefits to the science and other programs in the SMD. NASA MUST LEAD THE WAY ON NEO DETECTION-Hsu ‘10 [Jeremy; U.S. Must Be Ready to Meet Asteroid Threat, White House Science Adviser Says; Space.com; 21 Oct 2010; http://www.space.com/9370-ready-meet-asteroid-threat-white-house-science-adviser.html; retrieved 27 Jun 2011] National emergency plans for natural disasters can also work in the unlikely scenario of an asteroid strike on the U.S., according to a letter to Congress by the White House's top science adviser, SPACE.com has learned. The 10-page letter by John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, adds that the U.S. has a responsibility to the world as the country most capable of detecting space rocks that threaten Earth. The Oct. 15 letter obtained by SPACE.com is addressed to the leaders of the House Committee on Science and Technology. Holdren states that NASA must continue leading efforts to close the gap in detecting and perhaps deflecting near-Earth objects (NEO). The U.S. space agency already has the duty of alerting the rest of the government about any threatening space objects.
[Leonard; Space Columnist; Planetary Defense Coordination Office Proposed to Fight Asteroids; Space.com; 19 Oct 2010; http://www.space.com/9356-planetary-defense-coordination-office-proposed-fight-asteroids.html; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] A new report calls on NASA to establish a Planetary Defense Coordination Office to lead national and international efforts in protecting Earth against impacts by asteroids and comets. The final report of the Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense of the NASA Advisory Council was delivered to the Council this month, proposing five recommendations that suggest how the space agency should organize, acquire, investigate, prepare, and lead national and international efforts in planetary defense against near-Earth objects. "This was a very important step in the process of the United States Government defining its role in protection of life from this occasional, but devastating natural hazard,? former astronaut Russell Schweickart told SPACE.com. "Happily, in the instance of asteroid impacts, this is a natural disaster which can be prevented?only, however, if we properly prepare and work together with other nations around the world."
[NASA urged to consider planet 'defense;' UPI; 19 October 2010; http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/10/19/NASA-urged-to-consider-planet-defense/UPI-26431287533019/; retrieved 9 August 2011] NASA should establish a Planetary Defense Coordination Office to lead efforts should the Earth be threatened by asteroids and comets, a U.S. report says. The report, by the Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense of the NASA Advisory Council, offers suggestions on how the agency should prepare to lead national and international plans for defending Earth from collisions from near-Earth objects, SPACE.com reported Tuesday. "This was a very important step in the process of the United States government defining its role in protection of life from this occasional, but devastating natural hazard," former astronaut Russell Schweickart, co-chairman of the task force, said.
[Leonard; Space Columnist; Planetary Defense Coordination Office Proposed to Fight Asteroids; Space.com; 19 Oct 2010; http://www.space.com/9356-planetary-defense-coordination-office-proposed-fight-asteroids.html; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] Schweickart, who served as co-chair of the task force, said the new report and its recommendations to NASA combined new information with previous studies from the past decade. The task force met in July to discuss the need for a planetary defense office at NASA. Their final report was submitted to the space agency on Oct. 6. "With the support of the Administration and the Congress, the U.S. will be in the position of being able to work with and provide leadership in protecting life on Earth from these preventable cosmic disasters," he said.
[Evan; attorney and a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army; The Precautionary Principle as the Law of Planetary Defense: Achieving the Mandate to Defend the Earth Against Asteroid and Comet Impacts While There is Still Time; Georgetown International Environmental Law Review; Fall 2004] As it now stands, no agency has been explicitly designated to take the lead in planetary defense measures at the international level. In the United States, while NASA currently has responsibility for tracking Near-Earth Orbiting asteroids (NEOs), it is not authorized to deploy nuclear devices or evacuate populations. In other words, the mission of NASA is heavily dependent on research rather than operational activities. Similarly, no technical guidelines exist to coordinate the efforts of the multiple agencies that would be forced to respond to asteroid and comet impacts. At a minimum, the precautionary principle requires that governments institute very rudimentary interventions in protecting the planet. While effective planetary protection efforts will require the participation of different nations and their own respective agencies, the precautionary principle calls for a single center to coordinate activities of different organizations. One example of such an organization is the Northeastern Forest Fire Protection Commission, which coordinates activities of various firefighting organizations in parts of the United States and Canada by developing regulations and providing necessary guidance. THE UNITED STATES SHOULD LEAD THE WAY TO DEAL WITH NEO THREAT-Shapiro et al ‘10 [Irwin; Chair of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Defending Planet Earth:Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies; 2011; http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12842; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] Responding effectively to hazards posed by NEOs requires the joint efforts of diverse institutions and individuals, with organization playing a key role. Because NEOs are a global threat, efforts to deal with them could involve international cooperation from the outset. (However, this is one area in which one nation, acting alone, could address such a global threat.) The report discusses possible means to organize, both nationally and internationally, responses to the hazards posed by NEOs. Arrangements at present are largely ad hoc and informal here and abroad, and they involve both government and private entities. The committee discussed ways to organize the national community to deal with the hazards of NEOs and also recommends an approach to international cooperation: Recommendation: The United States should take the lead in organizing and empowering a suitable international entity to participate in developing a detailed plan for dealing with the NEO hazard.
[Irwin; Chair of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Defending Planet Earth:Near-Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation Strategies; 2011; http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12842; retrieved 21 Jun 2011] The United States should establish a standing committee, with membership from each of the relevant agencies and departments, to develop a detailed plan for treating all aspects of the threat posed to Earth by near-Earth objects, and apportioning among these agencies and departments the authority and responsibility for carrying out this plan, in coordination and collaboration with other nations. The standing committee would be further charged with overseeing on a continuing basis the carrying out of each agency’s and department’s activities under this plan. The administration should designate one agency or department as the lead; the chair of the committee should be the representative from this agency or department. Recommendation: The United States should take the lead in organizing and empowering a suitable international entity to participate in developing a detailed plan for dealing with the NEO hazard. THE US WILL HAVE TO PLAY THE LEAD ROLE ON NEO DETECTION-Hsu ‘10 [Jeremy; U.S. Must Be Ready to Meet Asteroid Threat, White House Science Adviser Says; Space.com; 21 Oct 2010; http://www.space.com/9370-ready-meet-asteroid-threat-white-house-science-adviser.html; retrieved 27 Jun 2011] "The United States is currently the world leader in NEO detection activities and will have a vital role to play in such communications, irrespective of whether the direct risk to the United States or its territories is considered low," Holdren said. A NASA advisory council recently suggested that the space agency set up an official Planetary Defense Coordination Office to lead protection efforts against threatening asteroids or comets. EVEN THOUGH THE THREAT AFFECTS THE WHOLE WORLD, ONLY THE US HAS DEVELOPED STEPS TO DEAL WITH IT-Morrison ‘06 [David; senior scientist @ NASA Astrobiology Institute; Asteroid and Comet Impacts: The Ultimate Environmental Catastrophe; Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences; Aug 2006; pp.2041-2054] Although the impact hazard is clearly a matter that affects all nations (Remo 1996), to date only the US government has taken significant steps to tackle the problem directly through scientific research and astronomical observations, as previously described. In 2000, the UK government commissioned a report on the hazard, which was duly published later that year (Atkinson et al. 2000). In addition to an excellent analysis of the hazard itself, this report made 14 recommendations, including some highlighting the need for international cooperation and action, although there has been relatively little follow-up. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 1.79 Mb. Share with your friends:
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