Tuesday, December 13, 2016

NASA Scientist Says Earth Is Due for ‘Extinction-Level’ Event

Earth is due for an “extinction-level” event from the sky, and even if we see it coming two years before impact, we won’t be able to do anything about it, a NASA scientist said Monday, reports New York Magazine.

Speaking at a meeting in San Francisco, Dr. Joseph Nuth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center said large asteroids and comets, the type that could wipe out civilization, are extremely rare, but tend to hit “50 to 60 million years apart.” Given that a comet wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, one could argue that we’re slightly past “due.”

“The biggest problem, basically, is there’s not a hell of a lot we can do about it at the moment,” he added.

According to New York Magazine, Nuth suggests NASA build a rocket to be kept in storage and deployed when we know the big one is on the way. If such a rocket were kept tuned up and could be ready to launch within a year, Nuth said, it “could mitigate the possibility of a sneaky asteroid coming in from a place that’s hard to observe, like from the sun.”

Could a Private Property Society handle this? Absolutely. By private donations. Though in terms of realpolitik, I wouldn't mind this project being launched by the current government.

 -RW

8 comments:

  1. Asteroids and comets are not like fault lines, that build up pressure, and about which we can say an earthquake is "due". An extinction-level event from space is as likely today as it was the day after the previous event.

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  2. Asteroid hits get LESS likely over time, as debris gets cleared, either by collision or by expulsion from the solar system. Look up Late Heavy Bombardment -- the solar system used to be a pretty dangerous place!

    This is the kind of unifying global threat Keynesians like Krugman would love to sell as justification for endless government. Global warming, alien invasion, etc.

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  3. Goes to show that even NASA scientists can suffer from the gambler's fallacy. I guess he is a government worker....

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  4. I thought that was why we paid these guys the big bucks. Y'know, like to anticipate REAL potential threats and to build defensive systems to neutralize them.
    Oh, wait, I'm dreaming again....

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  5. No Christians here? We know from the Bible this isn't going to happen and that the dinosaurs were not wiped out by a comet 65 million years ago, because there was no 65 million years ago. Statist nonsense from someone looking to justify their existence.

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    1. Nonsense. Christians that believe the planet is 6,000 years old are denying reality. God gave us brains, so use yours.

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    2. I do. It's why I take God at His word rather than calling Him a liar - that's a really dangerous thing to do. It's also why I read this wonderful website. (Just sucking up to Bob. :-)) P.S. Spend some time at answersingenesis.org or creation.com if you'd like both Biblical (which is all we need) and scientific evidence that the Earth is old - really old - like about 6,000 years old.

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  6. This subject came up in EPJ here: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2015/07/is-planetary-defense-against-asteroid.html

    I left a comment and link to a video suggesting that mainstream science may not understand asteroids and comets. Averros replied that I was spreading nonsense. I do not claim to be an expert but if I were to freely vote with my dollars, they would not fund the project suggested by Dr. Nuth.

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