Calling All Space Cowboys!

Apophis_path_2‘Member our old friend, the Asteroid Apophis?

Fortunately, it ain’t gonna hit us in 2029.

But there is a small chance it may smack into the planet in 2036–seven years later.

How small a chance?

About 1 in 5,500.

But, like, one hit by an asteroid can ruin your whole civilization.

So 1:5,500 may be too much of a risk to accept.

Some scientists certainly think so.

That’s why they’re calling for THE FIRST REAL-LIFE ASTEROID-DEFLECTION MISSION!

YEE-HAW!!!

They figger that we’ve got till 2013 (8 years from now) to decide IF we are going to mount such a mission but then, given the time needed to develop the tech (which we don’t have; we only have ideas for how to do it at this stage) and given the time needed to actually DO the mission (which could take YEARS for us to accomplish even once we have the tech–given the astronomical distances and delicate orbits involved), we really shouldn’t wait past 2013 to decide.

I’m ALL FOR THIS.

Even if it turns out Apophis has next to no risk of hitting Earth, we NEED to have asteroid-deflection technology, because if Apophis doesn’t smack into us, something else WILL–and it could be something we DON’T spot with 31 years warning! The sooner we have anti-asteroid technology in our back pocket, the better off we’ll all be.

So even though I’m not normally in favor of high-cost efforts to counter low-risk dangers, THIS ONE I’m in favor of.

I’d hate to see anything bad happen to my favorite planet!

There are a bunch of different ways to deflect asteroids. (NOTE TO SELVES: Blowing them up is NOT a good idea; you’re likely to get hit with the debris.) Sometime in the next decade, the European Space Agency (ESA) is even planning on testing the tech needed for one method:

ESA plans to test this idea with its Don Quixote mission, where two satellites will be sent to an asteroid. One of them, Hidalgo, will collide with the asteroid at high speed while the other, Sancho, will measure the change in the object’s orbit.

GET THE STORY.

MORE WAYS TO STOP ASTEROIDS.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

15 thoughts on “Calling All Space Cowboys!”

  1. Personally, I’m an advocate of the “beaming Barbra Streisand music” at it theory; and watching the asteroid run in the opposite direction. It’s risky tho. The asteroid may decide to make a valiant suicide run to put an end to the risk to the rest of the universe…
    Maybe some Vogan poetry instead? I heard that’s not quite as bad…

  4. Pardon my astrophysics ignorance, but can a near miss really screw up the planet almost as well? I seem to remember that from Thundar the Barbarian. 🙂

  5. “I seem to remember that from Thundar the Barbarian.”
    LOL! I forgot all about that show! Classic…

  6. Seems to me they’re always changing their predictions for the chance of a hit and for the time of a hit. So what if their calculations are wrong and accidentally alter the course so that its a direct hit?
    That being said, my favourite method of altering an asteroid’s course is sending a rocket to pace it while its still very far away. The gravitational pull between the two objects, though small, would alter the angle of approach ever so slightly, but would have a great effect by the time it comes close.

  7. When they do their tests lets hope the don’t screw it up and actually cause it to hit us.
    A near miss may act like when we use the Earth to slingshot missions to the other planets. When you do that you rob the earth of energy and give it to the probe. This slows the rotation of the earth down a very, very…..tiny amount.

  8. Everyone Panic! We’re all gonna die!
    Bin Laden’ll blow us clear to the sky,
    And then there’s Ebola, or Avian Flu,
    Or Comets from space–they’re a real threat, too.

  9. Can we send Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis in a space craft equipped with a nuclear warhead to deflect the astroid? That would be really good. The sooner we launch the better since the earlier we start the greater the deflection.

  11. “In the year 2036 an asteroid crashed into Antartica, wiping out half the human population. This incident, known as the Second Impact…”

  12. Bruce Willis? Affleck? Isn’t anyone paying any attention? This is Apophis we’re talking about. We need Richard Dean Anderson.

  13. I just remembered. 2036 is the year that they are predicting that Social Security will be totally bankrupt. What perfect timing!

  14. I thought Second Impact was scheduled for later this year, I suppose early next year is acceptable too.

  15. Whoa:
    2036: Add the last three (as in Persons in God) to get:
    56: Add one (ONE God) to the second digit:
    66: Add another six anywhere (Because THREE of anything is good, three persons, remember?)
    to get…
    666
    Coincidance? I think NOT!!!

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