5 ms·

Wouldn't it be funny if they nudge it off its current course, onto a collision course with us? No, actually not that funny.

ceejayoz 11y ago
The article states it wouldn't do any harm to Earth if it hit, and a planet is a pretty hard target to hit even intentionally.
- sbuttgereit 11y ago
  What would be ironic given that quote from the article is if we nudged it into the path of a larger asteroid and that collision sent the larger, dangerous asteroid into our path. Perhaps the larger asteroid fragments in a way to increase the probability of a collision with the fragments. Don't get me wrong... I do agree with you that all of these scenarios are extremely unlikely (space is really big) and I do think the experiment is worth doing. But still, there are failure modes and unintended consequence opportunities that should at least be thought about a bit, even if a very little bit.
  - gizmo686 11y ago
    In this case, wouldn't any risk of a butterfly effect causing an asteroid to hit us be offset by the chance of a butterfly effect accidentally deflecting an asteriod off of a colission course.
    - mangeletti 11y ago
      European or African butterflies?
      - dajohnson89 11y ago
        European and laden.
  - yohoho22 11y ago
    > But still, there are failure modes and unintended consequence opportunities that should at least be thought about a bit, even if a very little bit. I think it's highly likely that the people responsible for these projects will realize this. Do you disagree?
    - mukundmr 11y ago
      Given the limited knowledge we have about space, how accurate are the assumptions that no harm will be done? We are still figuring out water on Mars and that is quite near to Earth.
  - dredmorbius 11y ago
    "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." - Douglas Adams Chances of anything striking anything as a result of human intervention are quite slim. Effectively nil.
digdigdag 11y ago
I would be pleasantly surprised if NASA could nudge an asteroid massive enough to pose a threat to human life on Earth. If we can nudge it into a collision course, surely we can nudge it out of one.
djscram 11y ago
That would be hilarious, to a sufficiently distant civilization after a respectable amount of time. Maybe there's some kind of award they give out to planets that self-destruct. But instead of the Darwin award, it's called the Fermi award.
- moanuhLeesuh 11y ago
  It's on the same sort of humorous level as something Douglas Adams might write.
dclowd9901 11y ago
It's not actually large enough to pose a threat (according to the article), so even if that happened, we'd be ok.
notatoad 11y ago
Or onto a collision course with a different inhabited planet. Who interprets it as an act of war. This whole comments section is making me want to read some scifi about this. Anybody have any recommendations?
- Nicholas_C 11y ago
  Mix Starship Troopers with The Forever War.
- monochromatic 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_Games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_Games There's some rock throwing in this latest book in the Expanse series. You'd want to read the earlier books beforehand though. (They are worth reading anyway.)
- petitmiam 11y ago
  Arthur C. Clarke's 'The Hammer of God'
- Mithaldu 11y ago
  There is some super nice rock throwing in this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prador_Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prador_Moon
- dmckeon 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_Harlequin%27s_Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_Harlequin%27s_Moon suspended animation interspersed with patiently building a habitable environment out of asteroids & comets.
- stevewilhelm 11y ago
  Neal Stephenson's 2015 speculative fiction novel 'Seveneves.'
- piotrkaminski 11y ago
  The last book of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_F._Flynn#Firestar_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_F._Flynn#Firestar_seri... is all about deflecting asteroids, IIRC.
tvirelli 11y ago
My thoughts exactly.
malkia 11y ago
Actually it's funny, just not to us.

ceejayoz 11y ago

The article states it wouldn't do any harm to Earth if it hit, and a planet is a pretty hard target to hit even intentionally.

sbuttgereit 11y ago
What would be ironic given that quote from the article is if we nudged it into the path of a larger asteroid and that collision sent the larger, dangerous asteroid into our path. Perhaps the larger asteroid fragments in a way to increase the probability of a collision with the fragments. Don't get me wrong... I do agree with you that all of these scenarios are extremely unlikely (space is really big) and I do think the experiment is worth doing. But still, there are failure modes and unintended consequence opportunities that should at least be thought about a bit, even if a very little bit.
- gizmo686 11y ago
  In this case, wouldn't any risk of a butterfly effect causing an asteroid to hit us be offset by the chance of a butterfly effect accidentally deflecting an asteriod off of a colission course.
  - mangeletti 11y ago
    European or African butterflies?
    - dajohnson89 11y ago
      European and laden.
- yohoho22 11y ago
  > But still, there are failure modes and unintended consequence opportunities that should at least be thought about a bit, even if a very little bit. I think it's highly likely that the people responsible for these projects will realize this. Do you disagree?
  - mukundmr 11y ago
    Given the limited knowledge we have about space, how accurate are the assumptions that no harm will be done? We are still figuring out water on Mars and that is quite near to Earth.
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." - Douglas Adams Chances of anything striking anything as a result of human intervention are quite slim. Effectively nil.

digdigdag 11y ago

I would be pleasantly surprised if NASA could nudge an asteroid massive enough to pose a threat to human life on Earth. If we can nudge it into a collision course, surely we can nudge it out of one.

djscram 11y ago

That would be hilarious, to a sufficiently distant civilization after a respectable amount of time. Maybe there's some kind of award they give out to planets that self-destruct. But instead of the Darwin award, it's called the Fermi award.

moanuhLeesuh 11y ago
It's on the same sort of humorous level as something Douglas Adams might write.

dclowd9901 11y ago

It's not actually large enough to pose a threat (according to the article), so even if that happened, we'd be ok.

notatoad 11y ago

Or onto a collision course with a different inhabited planet. Who interprets it as an act of war. This whole comments section is making me want to read some scifi about this. Anybody have any recommendations?

Nicholas_C 11y ago
Mix Starship Troopers with The Forever War.
monochromatic 11y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_Games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_Games There's some rock throwing in this latest book in the Expanse series. You'd want to read the earlier books beforehand though. (They are worth reading anyway.)
petitmiam 11y ago
Arthur C. Clarke's 'The Hammer of God'
Mithaldu 11y ago
There is some super nice rock throwing in this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prador_Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prador_Moon
dmckeon 11y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_Harlequin%27s_Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_Harlequin%27s_Moon suspended animation interspersed with patiently building a habitable environment out of asteroids & comets.
stevewilhelm 11y ago
Neal Stephenson's 2015 speculative fiction novel 'Seveneves.'
piotrkaminski 11y ago
The last book of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_F._Flynn#Firestar_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_F._Flynn#Firestar_seri... is all about deflecting asteroids, IIRC.

tvirelli 11y ago

My thoughts exactly.

malkia 11y ago

Actually it's funny, just not to us.