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By: rorschach
Date: 3/15/98 9:36:34 PM
# Replies: 16
Well, maybe not the SKY per se... ok, everybody's heard about he earth crossing asteroid that maybe, might, come a little close to the earth in 30 years. its only 1/4 to 1/6th the size of the dino-killer 65 million years ago and its 30 years away... so everybody's kinda like "oh, big deal...." but you know. there is a bigger problem here.... first off, nobody seems to be able to grasp what 1997 XF11 would do if it were to hit. secondly, theres fewer than ten people actively looking for earth crossing bodies right now. congress voted down a measure that would devote 70 million bucks to actively search for objects that could hit us. those that are found are usually found by accident, and in two relatively recent cases AFTER the body had already made its closest approach to the earth. 70 mil is less than the production budget of most summer movies. 70 mil is less than pathfinder and sojourner cost to build and launch and operate. don't you think the fate of the human species is worth 70 mil? as much as I dispise my fellow man even *I* think thats a damned good investment.
imagine for a moment, you are in your back yard mowing the grass on some summer day, you look down and see two shadows of yourself... one moving much faster than a shadow should... you look up only to be flashblinded. you quickly look away while you try to get your sight back but before you can formulate the question "whats going on?" the sonic boom hits and knocks you to the ground as the flying mountain breaks mach 35 while entering earth's atmosphere. not much of the asteroid is lost to air friction because at the speed it is moving it just is not in the air long enough to loose much. a second or two later you see a fireball rising in the east... then the second shockwave, that of the impact, hits. the hit was in the gulf of mexico, several hundred miles offshore but the shockwave is STILL strong enough in houston to knock you and parts of your house to the ground. 45 minutes later, a tsunami destroys galveston and rushes up the buffalo bayou which acts to focus it's energy. downtown houston is GONE... meanwhile, the sky has become so black that it is like nighttime, with lots of lightning and wind storms boiling out of the gulf. it is raining mud.... frozen hail made from mud from the sea floor.... the heat liberated at impact was equivalent of all the nuclear warheads in the worlds arsenals set off in one spot. the ocean floor is molten and is boiling the sea creating the biggest hurricane since the dino-killer. it doesn't move like a regular hurricane, it just sits there, spinning off storm band after storm band and throwing it at the contenental US.. crops wither and die, it snows in dallas in august... this goes on for a year.... weather patterns are drastically changed, hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of damage is done. millons of lives are lost.
still think 70 mill is too much?
Response #1
By: Zanda
Date: 3/15/98 10:39:58 PM
Well, you have a great point....but the government is too busy trying to figure out how the hell we are going to blow the Earth up ourselves than to look heavenward...And now that the scientists say that the astroid IS NOT going to hit us....all the more exscuse not to do it...but I think we will regret it one day....maybe not tomorrow or the next day///but eventually...
Response #2
By: Da Sissop
Date: 3/16/98 7:31:29 AM
Hiya Zanda! Welcome to the Nunnery!
Personally I think private industry should step in and save the earth. Maybe Microsoft. They *do* have a version of "Asteroids" already in their "Best of Arcade" package.
Response #3
By: Zanda
Date: 3/16/98 1:05:30 PM
Well, that would make sense that private industry would at least contribute partially...but once again you have to keep that bottom line in mind....Industry is incredibly short sighted...
Response #4
By: Da Sissop
Date: 3/16/98 6:42:00 PM
"Microsoft - Keeping You Alive Until the Release of Windows 98^h^h99"
Response #5
By: Ralf
Date: 3/16/98 9:25:34 PM
They say it'll pass bewteen 30,000 and 600,000 miles of the earth.
Hmmm. The MOON is in that range.
I think it'll destroy the moon.
Response #6
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 3/16/98 11:53:29 PM
We'll either be saved by the aliens long before this thing happens or we'll already be dead.
Either way, it'll be the best damned blockbuster ever.
Response #7
By: Zanda
Date: 3/17/98 12:15:25 AM
I wish an alien would come down and save me...Take me away from all of this...But on a realistic note I think that they would have said if they thought it would come into the moon's path...And I htught that the moon was like 300,000 miles away, but I do not really have any idea..
Response #8
By: rorschach
Date: 3/17/98 7:14:17 PM
i do not know which type of asteroid 1997 xf11 is but the thought occurs to me that it wouldn't take much delta-vee to put it into orbit around earth via the same technology they would have used to deflect it. surely there's something worth mining in that mountain.
Response #9
By: Zanda
Date: 3/17/98 7:21:02 PM
I actually watched a show on Discovery Channel the other night about that very thing. They said that there is at least 1 trillion dollars worth of precious metals, rare metals, and othr ore on that astroid. And, that we currently have the technology to mine it. I dont know what else it said...I fell asleep at that point:)
Response #10
By: Ralf
Date: 3/17/98 7:50:31 PM
BTW, welcome Zanda. Anyone who wants aliens to come rescue them is a friend of mine.
Response #11
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 3/17/98 8:20:27 PM
Interesting you should mention blockbusters, Gowan. Two movies with meteor-hitting-the-earth themes are set to be released soon. When I saw the preview for 'Armageddon' I could only think about the mid-70s Sean Connery vehicle 'Meteor.' O well.
Response #12
By: Zanda
Date: 3/17/98 11:01:04 PM
Well, Ralf I figure if they(aliens) wanted blow us up, they would have by now. So, they couldnt be too bad.
Response #13
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 3/17/98 11:26:57 PM
Yep, I know all about them, Homer.
Armageddon star Bruce Willis as the leader of a group sent to blow up the asteroid before it hits Earth.
Deep Impact is Steven Speilberg's take on the asteroid coming to Earth. Morgan Freeman plays the President and Robert Duvall is the guy on the shuttle trying to blow the asteroid up.
Previews for both films are at a theater near you.
Response #14
By: rorschach
Date: 3/18/98 12:57:15 PM
personally, I thought of "Lucifer's Hammer" by Larry Niven back when I first heard about "Armageddon". always wondered why it was never made into a summer scecial effects movie.....
Response #15
By: Ralf
Date: 3/20/98 4:38:18 PM
"Springtime, for Satan, on Sol-3... Winter, on Earth, for Humaniteeee..."
Response #16
By: rorschach
Date: 3/23/98 6:52:39 PM
and a damned long one too!