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- There are currently no plans to deal with an asteroid
- Solvency – Detection
- NEOs have come dangerously close to Earth
Inh- No defense nowThere is no status quo programs with enough money to combat the asteroid problemUSN ’07 (US State News, 3/7/07, DIRECTOR OF ASTRONOMY LAB PROGRAM AT UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS COMMENTS ON CONFERENCE EXAMINING THREAT FROM ASTEROIDS, 6/22/11, LexisNexis, MLK) A conference underway this week in Washington D.C. is focusing on the potential threat of an asteroid striking the earth. The director of the astronomy lab program at the University of North Texas says the threat is real, but the problem is there's no money for any tracking efforts. Ron DiIulio says asteroid searches are going on all the time. But he adds to deal with the problem requires a two step approach. He says, "First, we have to identify the potentially hazardous asteroids. Far too often, we see them when they pass away from the earth, but we didn't know they were coming. Secondly, we have to deflect or alter their path. NASA has plans and methods to do this, but what happens is we need to develop interest in it. An asteroid the size of a football field could take out the entire DFW area." The "Planetary Defense Conference" is specifically concentrating on the threat posed by the asteroid Apophis, which could pass within 18,000 miles of Earth twice between 2029 and 2036. NASA predicts it would cost $1billion to find 90 percent of the 20,000 potentially hazardous asteroids and comets by 2020. DiIulio says UNT is already using telescopes at the Monroe Robotic Observatory near Gainesville to track asteroids. "We are using four of our telescopes at the Monroe observatory to look for asteroids. Just last week, we identified three known asteroids." DiIulio hopes that within a year, UNT will be able to take part in the Telescopes In Education program to help track these asteroids. There are currently no plans to deal with an asteroidGache 2007 (Gabriel Gache November 13th, 2007, 08:01 GMT “What Threat Do Asteroids Pose to Earth?” accessed 6/21/11 http://news.softpedia.com/news/What-Threat-do-Asteroids-pose-to-Earth-70680.shtml) JK There are so far no practical plans if an asteroid will be detected on a path heading towards Earth. Several ideas have been proposed, such as sending a massive spacecraft toward the asteroid to redirect its path, by using the ships gravitational field. The idea is theoretically and physically possible, but the technology today does not yet allow us to move massive objects into space. Although NASA says there is no immediate threat for a large object to hit Earth, there are still uncharted objects that could produce extensive regional damage if they would hit the planet. Unfortunately, not enough measures have been taken so far to prepare for such potential disaster. Solvency – DetectionDetection sucks nowNASA is behind on Asteroid Detection and we need to catch upVerango. 9. “Panel: NASA needs to do more to spot killer asteroids””USA Today” 8-12-9. Dan Verango( http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2009-08-12-nasa-asteroids_N.htm)( Dan Vergano is a science reporter at USA Today, where he has been since 1999. Previous reporting stints were at Medical Tribune and HealthWeek (PBS), as well as the science intern slot at Science News, freelance work for Men's Health, New Scientist, Science, the Washington Post and others. Dan worked as a space policy analyst for a federally-funded research and development contract organization before his reporting career. He won the 2006 David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism from the American Geophysical Union for a USA Today cover story on climate change. Dan was a 2007-08 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, where he concentrated on the intersection of science and politics) NASA is falling well short in its goal to spot huge asteroids that could threaten Earth, and it needs more money and skywatchers to do the job, a science panel said Wednesday. In 2005, Congress asked the space agency to find 90% of all "potentially hazardous" near-Earth asteroids and comets, ones more than 460 feet wide (farther than home plate to deep centerfield in Yankee Stadium), by 2020. Instead, the three current survey efforts dedicated to the problem, supported at current levels, will likely find only about 15%, suggests the National Research Council panel. "For the first time, humanity has the capacity and the audacity to avoid a natural disaster," says Irwin Shapiro of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Mass., who headed the panel. "It really is a question of how much to invest in an insurance policy for the planet." Astronomers rate the odds of a civilization-threatening space impact at once every 2 million years. The chances of a smaller impact, such as the 1909 Siberian event that leveled nearly 800 square miles of forest, are rated at once every two centuries, according to a 2008 estimate by space scientist David Morrison of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The CfA lists 1,060 "potentially hazardous" asteroids or comets on its registry, those that pass within about 4.5 million miles of Earth as they orbit the sun and measure at least 245 feet across. That's big enough to cause a 3-megaton explosion, more than 100 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb . Despite the 90% detection mandate, "the administration has not requested and Congress has not appropriated new funds to meet this objective," the report notes. Says Laurence Young of MIT, who reviewed a draft of the report: "The sky is falling, but we don't know how fast, and we don't know where and when. We should be improving our abilities to detect these objects." The NRC report is an interim one, ahead of a final report later this year recommending further options for more asteroid observatories, including spacecraft. At least five new observatories, as well as German and Canadian spacecraft, are under consideration for Earth's asteroid-detecting capabilities. In July, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory started an "Asteroid Watch" website to update the public on near-Earth asteroids and comets. Despite the report, Alan Harris of the Space Science Institute in La Canada, Calif., suggests that new telescopes planned for Hawaii will improve searches and lead to the detection of about 80% of the most threatening asteroids by 2020. "My personal opinion is that the risk reduction to be had by enhancing the discovery rate to literally meet the congressional goal is not worth the costs," Harris says. The panel's final report will examine the 90% goal, warning-time improvement and international collaboration. "I wouldn't get too frightened," Shapiro says. But he adds that all the proposed future observatories for finding more asteroids aren't funded yet. "Without the cameras in place, they aren't going to see anything. NEOs have come dangerously close to EarthLaunchspace Staff, ’09 (Launchspace Staff, Space News Magazine, 5/7/09, “The Asteroids are Coming,” 6/21/11, Lexis Nexis, MLK) Large impacts could cause mass extinctions of species. And....scientists know that most of the larger asteroids are as yet undetected! How do we detect, and better yet, deflect such large asteroids? Eventually, one of these will be spotted. And when that happens, who do we call? Right now there is no one to call, because the world has no defense against pending large asteroid encounters! If this is troubling, here is the bad news. On March 2 of this year, asteroid 2009 DD45 zipped just 41,000 miles above Earth at a speed of 12 miles per second at its closest point to Earth. Amateur astronomers aided professionals at the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center by providing measurements used in refining calculations of the asteroid's orbit. But, astronomers did not even detect the asteroid until just a couple of days before it zoomed by Earth; far too late to take any preventative action. This was not an isolated incident as many NEOs come this close to Earth and zip by undetected! Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 1.03 Mb. Share with your friends:
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