4 ms·

Hawaiian Asteroid-Warning Telescope Passes Key Test

32 points by okket 8y ago

sandworm101 8y ago
>> If 2018 LA had been big enough to cause a dangerous explosion, like the asteroid that hit Russia in 2013, we'd have had enough warning that people could evacuate the impact zone." When I was at school my astronomy prof spoke of his work on a committee to standardize how possible impacts would be announced to the public. There is a real risk of mass panic killing far more people than the actually falling rock. Looking to the above example, that rock didn't hurt much of anyone in Russia. Now imagine that same event about to happen over Africa. Are you really going to initiate an evacuation of even a single city? People will die in that evacuation. There isn't the infrastructure anywhere to move millions of people overnight. What if a large part of a country is in the target zone? Such a mass movement of people could trigger a war. You better be very sure about the risk from the physical impact before making any announcement. It would have to be far far worse than the 2013 Russia explosion before I'd say much of anything.
- Cthulhu_ 8y ago
  The only thing I see in movies that go with a scenario like that is everyone getting stuck on the highways on the way out. The current infrastructure doesn't support a mass evacuation. Even buildings are struggling with it, especially skyscrapers (see also 9/11, where hundreds of people died simply because they couldn't get out). This system claims 5 hours warning time. I guess that would be more than enough to at least get people out of skyscrapers and into the underground parking garages, but it's a scenario that you'd need to train for. Plus that's (I think?) the first detection - after first detection, smart people first need to do a risk assessment before they raise the alarms - if it's a false alarm they'd risk panic and huge financial damage, like with the Hawaiian missile alert a while ago.
  - mc32 8y ago
    The system and the people, everything behind this system, should have iron clad immunity from any claims of any sort. Imagine they sound the alarm, the thing falls, but, surprisingly avoids major destruction, in the meantime the chaos leads to accidents, deaths and looting... the cure ended up being worse than the disease in this particular incident. People might rightly want to sue for damages, even if on average this warning would save lives.
    - sandworm101 8y ago
      >>> iron clad immunity from any claims of any sort. Not really possible. This is a planetary matter. That would require cooperation from literally every legal jurisdiction, some of which have no concept of such immunity. This is why such statements should not come from individuals or groups but only from sovereign governments. NASA, not the Hawaii telescope people.

32 points by okket 8y ago

>> If 2018 LA had been big enough to cause a dangerous explosion, like the asteroid that hit Russia in 2013, we'd have had enough warning that people could evacuate the impact zone." When I was at school my astronomy prof spoke of his work on a committee to standardize how possible impacts would be announced to the public. There is a real risk of mass panic killing far more people than the actually falling rock. Looking to the above example, that rock didn't hurt much of anyone in Russia. Now imagine that same event about to happen over Africa. Are you really going to initiate an evacuation of even a single city? People will die in that evacuation. There isn't the infrastructure anywhere to move millions of people overnight. What if a large part of a country is in the target zone? Such a mass movement of people could trigger a war. You better be very sure about the risk from the physical impact before making any announcement. It would have to be far far worse than the 2013 Russia explosion before I'd say much of anything.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago
The only thing I see in movies that go with a scenario like that is everyone getting stuck on the highways on the way out. The current infrastructure doesn't support a mass evacuation. Even buildings are struggling with it, especially skyscrapers (see also 9/11, where hundreds of people died simply because they couldn't get out). This system claims 5 hours warning time. I guess that would be more than enough to at least get people out of skyscrapers and into the underground parking garages, but it's a scenario that you'd need to train for. Plus that's (I think?) the first detection - after first detection, smart people first need to do a risk assessment before they raise the alarms - if it's a false alarm they'd risk panic and huge financial damage, like with the Hawaiian missile alert a while ago.
- mc32 8y ago
  The system and the people, everything behind this system, should have iron clad immunity from any claims of any sort. Imagine they sound the alarm, the thing falls, but, surprisingly avoids major destruction, in the meantime the chaos leads to accidents, deaths and looting... the cure ended up being worse than the disease in this particular incident. People might rightly want to sue for damages, even if on average this warning would save lives.
  - sandworm101 8y ago
    >>> iron clad immunity from any claims of any sort. Not really possible. This is a planetary matter. That would require cooperation from literally every legal jurisdiction, some of which have no concept of such immunity. This is why such statements should not come from individuals or groups but only from sovereign governments. NASA, not the Hawaii telescope people.