Seti aff •seti neg •Asteroids Aff
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ExplanationMajor asteroid impacts are, within our life times, extremely rare events. Even though many small rocks from space collide with the Earth every year, the vast majority burn up in the atmosphere and never actually reach the Earth. Most of us cannot remember a time when an asteroid hit the Earth, because they happen so infrequently. Despite this, we know for certain that large asteroids exist and have the potential to do great harm. The most famous example is something many learned in school – that an enormous asteroid collided with Earth 65 million years ago and resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs, as well as much of the other life at the time Can the same fate befall humans? Currently, NASA is tasked with answering that very question. Congress has asked NASA to keep track of asteroids with the potential to hit the Earth, called Near Earth Objects (NEOs). However, due to inadequate funding, NASA will not be able to say with certainty that the Earth is safe from one of these major impacts. The affirmative argues that restoring funding and placing new instruments in orbit around Venus will allow us to find any asteroid that will impact the Earth. This will give us adequate time, if necessary, to develop a strategy to deflect an incoming asteroid so that it does not damage the Earth. In addition to this, further study of asteroids as a result of the plan will lay the foundation for visits to resource rich NEOs and open up the possibility of mining asteroids. The solvency of this affirmative argues that telescopes placed in orbit are the best way to locate potential impactors because they can view the solar system from an angle that telescopes on Earth cannot. It also argues that the technology to deflect asteroids and avert disaster exists in the status quo – provided that we have enough advance warning to put these measures into action. GlossaryAsteroid – A small rocky object orbiting the earth Telescope – an instrument designed to make distant objects appear nearer. Telescopes exist that search for many different frequencies of waves, from radio waves to light waves to ultraviolet waves Tunguska – Refers to the last major asteroid impact on Earth, happening in 1908 over Tunguska, Siberia. The impact flattened 830 square miles of forest and could be heard all the way in England Chicxulub – Refers to an enormous impact crater 110 miles in diameter found beneath the ocean in the Yucatan peninsula. The meteorite that crashed to create the Chicxulub crater is believed to be the one that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct 65 million years ago. Ejecta – Material that is forced out of the ground as the result of a meteorite striking a surface. Planetary defense – attempts to protect planet Earth from asteroid strikes Deflection – Deflection of an asteroid refers to the process of altering its course or attempting to destroy it so that it cannot hit the Earth Hayabusa – Hayabusa is the name of an unmanned spacecraft launched by Japan. It was the first spacecraft from any country that successfully traveled to a near Earth asteroid and returned to Earth with a sample. Teleoperated – operated remotely. Robotic spacecraft are teleoperated from Earth. Impactor – an object that collides with another body. A meteor is an impactor Albedo – The tendency of an object in space to reflect light. An object with a high albedo will appear bright in the night sky because it reflects a lot of light. Orbital plane – the imaginary plane on which something orbits the sun. Testament – in this context, a testament to something is a tribute or a symbol of what it represents Trajectory – the path of a projectile as it moves through the sky Crop failure – when the crops planted by a farmer fail to grow, possibly leading to starvation Political hot-spot – an area marked by instability, perhaps due to protests or weakness in the government Tel Aviv – the second most populous city in Israel Islamabad – Capital of Pakistan Industrial base – the companies that collectively make a product. For example, the space industrial base includes companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin that produce planes and other missile technology Deterministically – An inevitable consequence of something. If something is deterministic, it is known with certainty Infrared – Part of the wave spectrum. Most heat emissions show up in infrared. Thermal vision technology is designed to pick up infrared vision, for example Hazard – a danger or risk Metallurgical – metallurgy is the science and chemistry of the properties of metals. Something metallurgical refers to this science. Extraction – to extract is to remove something useful from where it is contained. Viable – capable of working successfully, feasible Nominal – a minor or merely formal change that does alter the fundamental idea or original process greatly Mitigation – the action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something Acronyms: NEA – Near Earth Asteroid NEO – Near Earth Object NRC – National Resource Council DFW – Dallas Fort-Worth NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administratio 1AC [1/7]Contention 1: Inherency NASA is currently attempting to create a record of and track Asteroids that could potentially hit Earth, also known as “Near Earth Objects.” However, it lacks both the funding and space based telescope technology necessary to do this. Associated Press, 8/12/2009, “Lack of funds hampers killer asteroid hunt”, http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/849147/nasa-cant-cope-with-killer-asteroids Top of Form NASA is supposed to seek out almost all the asteroids that threaten Earth, but lacks the money to do the job. That's because even though US Congress gave the space agency this mission four years ago, it never gave NASA money to build the necessary telescopes, says a report released this week by the National Academy of Sciences. Specifically, NASA has been ordered to spot 90 per cent of potentially deadly rocks hurtling through space by 2020. Even without the money, NASA says it has completed about one-third of its assignment with its current telescope system. The agency estimates about 20,000 asteroids and comets in Earth's solar system bigger than 140m in diameter are potential threats to the planet. So far, scientists know where about 6000 of the objects are. Rocks between 140m and 1000m in diameter can devastate an entire region but not the whole planet, said Lindley Johnson, NASA's manager of the near-Earth objects program. Objects bigger than that are even more threatening. Just last month, astronomers were surprised when an object of unknown size and origin bashed into Jupiter and created an Earth-sized bruise that is still spreading. Jupiter gets slammed more often than Earth because of its immense gravity, enormous size and location. Near misses in previous years have alerted people to the threat. But when it comes to doing something about monitoring the threat, the academy concluded: ``There has been relatively little effort by the US Government.'' And the US Government is practically the only government doing anything at all, the report found. ``It shows we have a problem we're not addressing,'' said Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society, an advocacy group. 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