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I hope when the next Chicxulub-scale asteroid approaches Earth that humanity will be ready to tackle it. If that's even possible. Armageddon style?

lamontcg 5y ago
Probably just repeatedly smack rockets into it, not very Armageddon style. https://futurism.com/the-byte/smash-satellites-killer-asteroid https://futurism.com/the-byte/smash-satellites-killer-astero...
- eloff 5y ago
  If you detect it far enough away you can just spray paint it. Change the albedo on one side and let the solar radiation pressure push it away enough that it misses by a safe margin.
imglorp 5y ago
After last few years, between our handling of the epidemic, global politics, resource management, warming, and the near impossibility of ever obtaining consensus about any given fact, I'm kinda worried. Some would deny an asteroid was coming, clinging to their profits or parties or deities by FUDing the astronomers and engineers. Some would say let's put all all our effort to get some people off planet, at least into long term orbit (Stephenson's Seveneves), to save the gene pools. Begin debating who goes. Some would say don't waste any resources on the orbit plan: put everything we have into deflecting the asteroid so it misses Earth altogether. We should start now, today, learning how to build a planetary consensus about everyday things before we're faced with an urgent extinctor. We already ushered in the long term one.
- koheripbal 5y ago
  Democracy is the empowerment of humanity's average intelligence.
- Gibbon1 5y ago
  At this point I'd believe faced with an asteroid impact the US would try and nudge it to hit China. Fuck it up due to a english to metric conversion and do self own.
  - goatlover 5y ago
    A dinosaur-killing asteroid hitting China isn't going to do much good for the US. Kill off your largest competitor (and supplier) along with the rest of Asia, and then watch the ejecta fall back down around the world as they superheat the atmosphere and burn forests. Then look forward to dealing with a starving and freezing population as thick clouds envelop the planet for several years.

lamontcg 5y ago

Probably just repeatedly smack rockets into it, not very Armageddon style. https://futurism.com/the-byte/smash-satellites-killer-asteroid https://futurism.com/the-byte/smash-satellites-killer-astero...

eloff 5y ago
If you detect it far enough away you can just spray paint it. Change the albedo on one side and let the solar radiation pressure push it away enough that it misses by a safe margin.

imglorp 5y ago

After last few years, between our handling of the epidemic, global politics, resource management, warming, and the near impossibility of ever obtaining consensus about any given fact, I'm kinda worried. Some would deny an asteroid was coming, clinging to their profits or parties or deities by FUDing the astronomers and engineers. Some would say let's put all all our effort to get some people off planet, at least into long term orbit (Stephenson's Seveneves), to save the gene pools. Begin debating who goes. Some would say don't waste any resources on the orbit plan: put everything we have into deflecting the asteroid so it misses Earth altogether. We should start now, today, learning how to build a planetary consensus about everyday things before we're faced with an urgent extinctor. We already ushered in the long term one.

koheripbal 5y ago
Democracy is the empowerment of humanity's average intelligence.
Gibbon1 5y ago
At this point I'd believe faced with an asteroid impact the US would try and nudge it to hit China. Fuck it up due to a english to metric conversion and do self own.
- goatlover 5y ago
  A dinosaur-killing asteroid hitting China isn't going to do much good for the US. Kill off your largest competitor (and supplier) along with the rest of Asia, and then watch the ejecta fall back down around the world as they superheat the atmosphere and burn forests. Then look forward to dealing with a starving and freezing population as thick clouds envelop the planet for several years.