Comments on: Asteroid early-detection telescope planned http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned Accelerating Intelligence Thu, 23 May 2013 21:57:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Dan Robinson http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned/comment-page-1#comment-21893 Dan Robinson Sat, 30 Jun 2012 03:23:43 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=154773#comment-21893 This is a project that can have continuous refinement. I look forward to seeing how accurately they can predict upcoming close calls. But how about outer asteroids that have close passes of Mars or Jupiter and are deflected inward? Can we make any predictions about them? This is a project that can have continuous refinement. I look forward to seeing how accurately they can predict upcoming close calls. But how about outer asteroids that have close passes of Mars or Jupiter and are deflected inward? Can we make any predictions about them?

]]> By: Bri http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned/comment-page-1#comment-21838 Bri Fri, 29 Jun 2012 22:22:45 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=154773#comment-21838 Yes as I said, there are quite a few proposed ways. They've been explore technically, and in movies. The idea of tugging an asteroid has been around for a long time. It will prove to be difficult for all but the lightest ones. They all have angular momentum. There about as solid as a frozen rocky beach. It's gonna be hard to get good anchorage. With light you have tremendous flexibility. Reagans star wars lasers had the problem that they exploit in the lightning bolt tech. Pump the atoms of the atmosphere with to much energy, and it becomes a plasma. This sapped the lasers strength. In space there are no atoms.(well, not too many!) the beams could be very energy dense. Targeted to specific locations on the asteroid, it could halt any rotation. Then it's the pull of the suns gravity, and the amount of energy to alter it's course, so it drifts to the Home on the Range 5 point. The new wild west. There's a whole lot of real-estate up there. Besides, were gonna need to be able to shoot those pebbles out of space around us , if were gonna.put things up that can get hit! Yes as I said, there are quite a few proposed ways. They’ve been explore technically, and in movies. The idea of tugging an asteroid has been around for a long time. It will prove to be difficult for all but the lightest ones. They all have angular momentum. There about as solid as a frozen rocky beach. It’s gonna be hard to get good anchorage. With light you have tremendous flexibility. Reagans star wars lasers had the problem that they exploit in the lightning bolt tech. Pump the atoms of the atmosphere with to much energy, and it becomes a plasma. This sapped the lasers strength. In space there are no atoms.(well, not too many!) the beams could be very energy dense. Targeted to specific locations on the asteroid, it could halt any rotation. Then it’s the pull of the suns gravity, and the amount of energy to alter it’s course, so it drifts to the Home on the Range 5 point. The new wild west. There’s a whole lot of real-estate up there. Besides, were gonna need to be able to shoot those pebbles out of space around us , if were gonna.put things up that can get hit!

]]> By: Bri http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned/comment-page-1#comment-21827 Bri Fri, 29 Jun 2012 21:34:05 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=154773#comment-21827 Talk about a Skynet. We could be like some bacterium. Grabbing hold of floating debris, munching on it, turning it into useful components. Talk about a Skynet. We could be like some bacterium. Grabbing hold of floating debris, munching on it, turning it into useful components.

]]> By: Gorden Russell http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned/comment-page-1#comment-21793 Gorden Russell Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:14:52 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=154773#comment-21793 Yes Bri. NASA will soon test an electric rocket named VASIMR on the International Space Station. I've looked at the VASIMR entry at Wikipedia and it looks good. A VASIMR space tug could haul an asteroid back to Lagrange Point Five where it could be mined and turned into a space station, more mining vessels, and lots of von Neumann machines. Yes Bri. NASA will soon test an electric rocket named VASIMR on the International Space Station. I’ve looked at the VASIMR entry at Wikipedia and it looks good. A VASIMR space tug could haul an asteroid back to Lagrange Point Five where it could be mined and turned into a space station, more mining vessels, and lots of von Neumann machines.

]]> By: GatorALLin http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned/comment-page-1#comment-21786 GatorALLin Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:01:59 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=154773#comment-21786 ....very interesting to wonder if the Only reason the Earth is not full of big lizards today is due to the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction that happened due to a Meteor slamming into Earth about 65 million years ago.... Apparently when the earth is stable then evolution does not have pressure to change quickly. Cool that we can now control our own destiny to avoid such massive change/extinction in the future if they developed such a plan. Have to wonder how many other planets out there never get their massive meteor hit to help create intelligent life.... or if they get a meteor too big and just wipes out everything to hit the reset button on life all together? Makes me appreciate how lucky we are to have our Goldilocks conditions be just right.... I sure hope they get this program up and going way before we actually need it. ….very interesting to wonder if the Only reason the Earth is not full of big lizards today is due to the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction that happened due to a Meteor slamming into Earth about 65 million years ago…. Apparently when the earth is stable then evolution does not have pressure to change quickly. Cool that we can now control our own destiny to avoid such massive change/extinction in the future if they developed such a plan. Have to wonder how many other planets out there never get their massive meteor hit to help create intelligent life…. or if they get a meteor too big and just wipes out everything to hit the reset button on life all together? Makes me appreciate how lucky we are to have our Goldilocks conditions be just right…. I sure hope they get this program up and going way before we actually need it.

]]> By: Bri http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned/comment-page-1#comment-21764 Bri Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:20:44 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=154773#comment-21764 As I ponder this idea, I like it even more. Peter Diamandis has proposed asteroid mining. That's a long distance to travel. Very costly. We'll need some method of deflection to fend of a potential collision. The heliostatic mirrors for solar collection would work better in space. The earth receives a tiny portion of the suns light. In space they could collect many times more energy than hits the earth. This could help our terrestrial needs plus our near earth needs. At the same time we would be developing a system that could affect an asteroid. Even holding it like optical tweezers! The money spent on on system could dove tail into other practical systems. Our efforts wouldn't need to be so scattered. If they failed in one department it wouldn't be a total waste, only justifiable as pure science. As I ponder this idea, I like it even more. Peter Diamandis has proposed asteroid mining. That’s a long distance to travel. Very costly. We’ll need some method of deflection to fend of a potential collision. The heliostatic mirrors for solar collection would work better in space. The earth receives a tiny portion of the suns light. In space they could collect many times more energy than hits the earth. This could help our terrestrial needs plus our near earth needs. At the same time we would be developing a system that could affect an asteroid. Even holding it like optical tweezers! The money spent on on system could dove tail into other practical systems. Our efforts wouldn’t need to be so scattered. If they failed in one department it wouldn’t be a total waste, only justifiable as pure science.

]]> By: Bri http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned/comment-page-1#comment-21758 Bri Fri, 29 Jun 2012 17:03:24 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=154773#comment-21758 So many rocks wiz by and just miss. With the knowledge of their trajectories, we could concievably steer or slow down one with some of the preposed techniques. Can you imagine using a space mirror and sunlight to park one in parallel orbit around the sun? Once it's relative speed is the same as ours, it's kinetic energy wouldn't be so dangerous. Then we could explore and mine it! So many rocks wiz by and just miss. With the knowledge of their trajectories, we could concievably steer or slow down one with some of the preposed techniques. Can you imagine using a space mirror and sunlight to park one in parallel orbit around the sun? Once it’s relative speed is the same as ours, it’s kinetic energy wouldn’t be so dangerous. Then we could explore and mine it!

]]> By: Joe http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned/comment-page-1#comment-21749 Joe Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:36:05 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=154773#comment-21749 Great news. Thanks for posting. Great news. Thanks for posting.

]]> By: Gorden Russell http://www.kurzweilai.net/asteroid-early-detection-system-planned/comment-page-1#comment-21748 Gorden Russell Fri, 29 Jun 2012 16:33:02 +0000 http://www.kurzweilai.net/?p=154773#comment-21748 Here is the URL for the page where you can donate a couple of bucks: http://b612foundation.org/donate/ Here is the URL for the page where you can donate a couple of bucks:

http://b612foundation.org/donate/

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