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Relatively speaking, there is very little data to go off of as of now. The comet hasn't been tracked long enough for them to truly see if it will even be close

Relatively speaking, there is very little data to go off of as of now. The comet hasn't been tracked long enough for them to truly see if it will even be close to Mars. I do think, however, that if it does look well on its way to hitting Mars, it'd be worth while to send a large chunk of mass and try to push it in another direction. It could prove to be a trial for a future, Earth-threatening instance. So far the ability to deflect a comet/asteroid is only a theory--putting it to practice is a great way to test it.

enraged_camel 14y ago
I've actually heard it said that the benefits of allowing it to hit Mars would be greater, since we would learn a lot from the event and use that knowledge to explain what happened to our own planet 65 million years ago. In addition, some scientists mentioned the possibility that an impact of such magnitude might help terraform Mars (although admittedly I've only heard the soundbites and haven't looked into the actual science of it).
- aashaykumar92 14y ago
  Hmm I guess that makes sense but there are two options I see: 1) The comet hits Mars, has negative effects on the planet but we end up learning a lot about what happened to Earth. 2) We deflect the comet, learn how to protect ourselves from such things in the future, and we can still visit Mars in the future and hope for life on there. Now obviously I demonstrated a bias above, but I definitely think it's more worth our time to look into the future than what happenED--especially in this situation. Right now, there are more discussions/plans of humans visiting Mars than there ever has been. A comet hitting the planet would most likely cancel or severely postpone many of those plans. Learning how to protect ourselves should be prioritized, then discovery should be close after. Both of these may become delayed processes if we just allow a comet to hit Mars. Let me know your thoughts.

enraged_camel 14y ago

I've actually heard it said that the benefits of allowing it to hit Mars would be greater, since we would learn a lot from the event and use that knowledge to explain what happened to our own planet 65 million years ago. In addition, some scientists mentioned the possibility that an impact of such magnitude might help terraform Mars (although admittedly I've only heard the soundbites and haven't looked into the actual science of it).

aashaykumar92 14y ago
Hmm I guess that makes sense but there are two options I see: 1) The comet hits Mars, has negative effects on the planet but we end up learning a lot about what happened to Earth. 2) We deflect the comet, learn how to protect ourselves from such things in the future, and we can still visit Mars in the future and hope for life on there. Now obviously I demonstrated a bias above, but I definitely think it's more worth our time to look into the future than what happenED--especially in this situation. Right now, there are more discussions/plans of humans visiting Mars than there ever has been. A comet hitting the planet would most likely cancel or severely postpone many of those plans. Learning how to protect ourselves should be prioritized, then discovery should be close after. Both of these may become delayed processes if we just allow a comet to hit Mars. Let me know your thoughts.