NASA: Asteroid Apophis Will Not Strike Earth

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mikenygmail

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So this accounts for the small "window" of space as well? From what I understand, if Apophis passed through this window it would mean a certain impact in the future. Once the first pass takes place, we'll have a better idea.
 

mikenygmail

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[citation][nom]Cats_Paw[/nom]Grumpy cat will be dissapointed...Somehow i dont think Nasa knows about ALL of the potencial asteroids out there.[/citation]

They have admitted as much - many asteroids remain a danger, especially small ones that could strike the atmosphere like the one that supposedly caused the Tunguska event. That would be enough to take out a city.
 

A Bad Day

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[citation][nom]Cats_Paw[/nom]Grumpy cat will be dissapointed...Somehow i dont think Nasa knows about ALL of the potencial asteroids out there.[/citation]

Because NASA has to operate on a shoestring budget. Why fund an effective asteroid detection/counter system that might not be used 30-50 years from now when you can throw the money elsewhere?

(A nuke does not count as a counter. Contrary to Hollywood, a nuke may end up turning the asteroid into a gigantic hail of buckshot, which is worse because the hail could do more damage than the asteroid itself)
 

g00fysmiley

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To be fair we already knwo how to deal with incoming astroids to avoid impact "This can be accomplished by irradiating the surface of an inbound rock with sufficiently intense pulses so that ablation occurs. This ablation acts as a small rocket incrementally changing the shape of the rock’s orbit around the Sun. One‐kilometer size rocks can be moved sufficiently in about a month while smaller rocks may be moved in a shorter time span. " this is part of a very interesting read , a paper by Jonathan W. Campbell Claude Phipps Larry Smalley James Reilly and Dona Bocci titled The Impact Imperative: Laser Ablation for Deflecting Asteroids, Meteoroids, and Comets from Impacting the Earth google it, a good read
 
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But, if any dust collides with the asteroid, the asteroid route can changes...
 

Hando567

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Its a shame this prediction assumes an uninterrupted path, who is to say a slightly smaller asteroid doesnt bump into it and push it into a path with earth. Unlikely but 17 years is a long time and no one thinks to look for inter-asteroid collision paths to my knowledge, so who knows what could happen. Also, Apophis was supposed to pass us in 2029, not 2036.
 

greghome

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Heard of this asteroid about a year ago... Big buzz at the time of discovery in amateur astronomy, then the calcs were redone by either NASA or the European space agency, took over a year to do.... Apparently to make it a one in a million chance of hitting earth larger margins of errors were introduced to create a wider flight path band so to speak, so that the earth takes up a tiny part of it... hence a now one in a million chance of it colliding with earth. I think the gfc was created to hide the trillions required to send Bruce up to knock it off course. Suddenly there are private companies hoping to mine near earth asteroids within a few years....

On another conspiracy theory... anyone else notice the global warming nay sayers, there is one such particular silly old ah heck on Sydney radio, offloading their waterfront properties and buying large chunks of cheap, soon to be very lucrative, high ground?
 

raymarv

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If NASA had determined that it WAS going to hit earth, would they tell everyone or keep it secret & work on a solution secretly & only reveal it when the path has been corrected?
 
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