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Space Science

Request for Cosmic Collision Insurance 68

Posted by michael from the playing-the-lottery dept.
HobbySpacer writes "According to this article a group of distinguished citizens has sent an open letter to Congress, the President, and other world leaders to request that they begin a serious program to protect the planet from the possible impact of a comet or asteroid. The petitioners include Freeman Dyson, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Neil Tyson (Director of the Hayden Planetarium) and others. They say that for "the first time in human history, we have the potential to protect ourselves from a catastrophe of truly cosmic proportions." A three phase program is urged that includes detection, exploration, and contingency planning. See the full letter at www.CongressNEOaction.org"
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Request for Cosmic Collision Insurance More

Request for Cosmic Collision Insurance

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  • Imagine the premiums!

    • Affordable coverage, available today! (Score:5, Funny)

      by JUSTONEMORELATTE ( 584508 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @11:26AM (#6407761) Homepage
      For a one-time premium of only US$1,000, I will grant a US$1.5Million policy to anyone who wants one -- NOBODY TURNED DOWN!!
      The policy will pay out, in full, to anyone whose species becomes extinct as a result of catastrophic collision with any celestial body.
      Some of my competitors will only cover comets, excluding asteroids. Others may cover alien invasions, but exclude comets. I cover any celestial catastrophic event that causes the extinction of your species, and I pay cash!

      --
    • Shoot.

      Thanks to terrorism, my 1 million dollar liability policy went from $170 a year to $700 a year. Yeah, my risk of messing up someones computers increased because a couple of airplanes crashed.

      The best part is, I'm NOT liable for delays caused by 3rd parties. Its in the contracts. I'm not liable for damages caused by 3rd parties.

      Oh, yeah, my auto insurance went up. I got older, didnt have an accident, but my premium went up. Why? Because allstate wants to recoup losses from other divisions and un
      • I was with you right up until the last paragraph. "Eggheads"? It's because of "eggheads" that you have cars, computers, and airplanes (and, incidentally, because of "pork-barrel projects" costing considerably more than $1 million, that these things are useful tools instead of interesting toys). Until you learn not to slur people based on their intelligence, don't expect intelligent people to take seriously anything you have to say.
  • What makes them think that humanity is worth preserving from a cosmic event?

    Just look at the addle-brained mung-heads killing themselves in the middle east - for what?

    Or the buttwipe driving his SUV down the highway at 100 MPH, flapping his gums on a cell phone?

    There are many, many more examples of the uselessness of the human race in general.

    Pffht.

  • I read th letter and ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Arthaed ( 687979 ) <arthaed@@@hotmail...com> on Thursday July 10, 2003 @11:26AM (#6407763) Homepage
    I think they are implying that the US plan of having a group of oil rig drillers ready to go, won't save us ...

  • Unlikely to Happen (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Raghead ( 167999 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @11:31AM (#6407798)
    Humans seem to be unable to comprehend the need for action in this kind of low probability/extremely devasting situation. Nobody living has seen anything like this kind of catastrophe, so the public won't relate to it even if they hear about it. Our leaders don't grasp that a very low probability just means that given a long enough timeframe, the event will still likely occur.
  • about 20 years ago i read a blurb in the newspaper where this man slipped on his front poarch and fell into his rosebush and somehow a branch went into his throat and he choaked to death. a very unusual occurence to say the least. but i think this is more likely(no i did not crunch the numbers) than someone or vast numbers being killed by outerspace junk crashing to earth and causing wide spread destruction. i think we should spend our resourses on things like aides in africa. dealing with lost nuclear weap
    • I dont care if 5000 kids in africa die. I dont care if 5000 kids in america die. I do care if 6,300,000,000 people die. The entire acomlishments of mankind, gone in an instant.

      Asteroid defence will have similar benefits as when they designed a computer network to survive a nuclear war, well, it should have anyway. Bush has just given Billions of american taxpayers dollars to help Africa, but ultimatly, Africa is what Africa does, it's overpopulated, full of warlords that spend 10%+ of their GDP on the mili
    • i read a blurb in the newspaper where this man slipped on his front poarch and fell into his rosebush and somehow a branch went into his throat and he choaked to death. a very unusual occurence to say the least. but i think this is more likely

      You're more likely to get killed by an asteroid than hit by Lightning... That's because each year, N dozen people get hit by lightning that gives a probability in the range of 1/100million. An extinction-level meteor strike happens about every 60 million years --

      • there is no evidence that any human has ever been killed by anything falling from outerspace. what may happen over the course of millions of years does not impact humans! as i said less than a million years from now whatever life is on this planet will not he humans. it may be our ancestors or not! about 5 billion years from now when the sun goes through its red giant phase the earth will be "eaten" of course long before then life may be extinct here anyway. i just think it important to worry about what is
        • There is no evidence that any human has ever been killed by anything falling from outerspace. what may happen over the course of millions of years does not impact humans!

          It may happen in 4 million years, or it may happen in 4 weeks. It's kinda like drunk driving, but with longer odds and bigger costs in the odd possibility that something really does happen. You can drive drunk a hundred times, but that doesn't mean that you won't get yourself killed the hundred and first. The chances are about 1 in 600

  • Colonisation is the way (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Smartcowboy ( 679871 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @11:58AM (#6407967)
    If you want to make the humanity safe, the best way is the colonisation of another planet. This way, the destruction of one planet will not destroy humanity. In the long run, this is the only way. Sooner or later, an asteroid gonna fail on our heads. Colonisation protects humanity against most major threat [slashdot.org].

    Of course, colonisation will not protect individual who will always face the same probability of asteroid, nuclear weapons, ect no matter how many planets we can colonise.
    • The real deal is that NEO Deflection and Colonization are not mutually exclusive, and actually help each other. Both call for advancements in launch capability and capacity, and increased orbital infrastructure. For that matter, since NEO Deflection is best done as far in advance as possible, one NEO system, with a little extra compute power, could give coverage to Earth, Moon, and Mars as well as followers of Gerard O'Neill.
    • Of course, colonisation will not protect individual who will always face the same probability of asteroid, nuclear weapons, ect no matter how many planets we can colonise.
      And so we wish to spread ourselves to another planet, like the collective will of bacteria in an isolated petry dish. And yet we believe ourselves to be above amoeba; and amoeba believe themselves to be above plankton. Who will our vector be - a mechanical spacecraft?

    • Right.. (Score:2)

      by Danse ( 1026 )

      I know that I always research better insterstellar drives long before I worry about planetary shields. Expansion is the key to galactic conquest, even complete n00bs figure this out pretty quick. Of course we are talking about Congress here, so I guess they might take a bit longer.

    • This way, the destruction of one planet will not destroy humanity

      Maybe not, but it'll destroy all my stuff. I say bring on the nuclear particle disintegration ray weapons.

    • What you're assuming is that the most dangerous thing to us is a comet or asteroid, while the slashdot poll that you link to clearly shows that .Net is a much bigger threat than any of those. Colonization of other planets may delay the spread of .Net, but like any virus, so long as there is traffic between the planets, .Net and it's descendants will always manage to infect the populous.
    • No, you've got your maths all wrong. If we colonise another planet, then we are twice as likely to get our planet hit by an asteroid.


      Obviously we need to colonise less planets. If we can limit ourselves to a fraction of a planet, or a really small moon, we will be much safer.


      Read it and weep, dipshit.

    • Although diversification is always a good policy, we can still protect ourselves here and now. Waiting until we colonize another planet is akin to the suggestion that to protect ourselves from a murderous thief, that we shouldn't lock the front door, we should just wait until we can afford the house next door and move half of the family there.

  • sign of the times (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mikecarrmikecarr ( 43676 ) <mcarr-ref-slashdot@pachogrande.com> on Thursday July 10, 2003 @12:00PM (#6407992) Homepage Journal

    Well, maybe i'm a cynic, but...

    Why can I see a project like this getting huge funding and support from the government (we're protecting the country, no, the PLANET from weapons of mass destruction!), while NASA has to fight to justify itself? Why will weapons research and detection get more funding, attention and support than space exploration?

    • >> hy will weapons research and detection get more funding, attention and support than space exploration?

      Because you can't do research if you're dead.

      NASA isn't synonomous with space exploration. If we're going to get off the planet in a serious fashion, we need better propulsion, bigger vehicles, better life support, and better managers than NASA has ever provided. NASA has not enhanced our capability to travel in space since the launch of the first Shuttle. If fear of asteroid hits sparks a lot o
    • I hate to point this out, but...

      How do you think they would probably deflect this hurtling death asteroid?

      Could it, perhaps, involve a WEAPON?

      FREENET=FREESPEECH
    • Ever played any of the civilization games, or for that matter any 4x game will a decent tech system? Lets take for example aplha centauri, beause it is such a clearcut example. All the techs are in one of 4 types or a combination there of. Explore, Discover, Build, Destroy(I can't remember what the last one was actually called, but it's the military one.) People like me stress the Discover ones, just as I go for writing as quickly as possible in Civilization games and generally always try for the most sci

  • Cosmic proportions (Score:4, Funny)

    by Xylocain ( 229086 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @12:32PM (#6408230)

    Really, am I the only one to think that even if our whole solar system would be devastated by a gigantic cosmic body (however unlikely that is) it would hardly qualify for cosmic proportions?

    Maybe if a galaxy cluster was destroyed it'd be of cosmic proportions, but a tiny planet?

    Nope, heh, talk about inflated self-importance. :-)

    • Maybe he's talking about the little rad-hard chip that used to be favored for space applications, and really meant "COSMAC proportions". Of course, that would be a pretty small disaster even for those big old dice.
    • It seems you are defining 'devastated' in human terms. In a more general view it is not said that a galactic collision - leading to just another state of i.e. a cluster - is a devastation. It's much more only a dramatic alteration.
  • Gosh, and here I thought I'd finally be able to get by that Act of God clause in the darned contract.

    I guess I'll start buying up cartons of cigarettes. That ought to be more valuable than cash in any extinction level event.

  • Whats needed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by isorox ( 205688 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @01:28PM (#6408691) Homepage Journal
    Before asteroid deflection reaqlly becomes in the public eye we need a nice small asteroid to take out a city. 10,000,000 people wiped off the Earth is nothing in the long run, but it would wake up the world's governments.

    Assuming they dont think it's the first strike of a nuclear war.

    Would a city-buster hit in a field be enough? Tungasta wasn't was it?

    Chances are the next asteroid to hit Earth will land in the Ocean, probably the Pacific. Would a city-buster cause enough of a tidal wave to knock a few coastal cities off? Anyoen got any predictions of devestation? Perhaps a computer model where you specify impact speed, mass and location and you get a rough idea of numbers killed and where?
    • of living in the middle of nowhere.

      Oklahoma, a great place to avoid tidal waves. Just ignore the rednecks and tornados (which hit every year).

      Midwestern living, it cannot be beat.
    • A few months back jpl? some california university types? published on the net an impact tidal wave application (java? - maybe just the video) on the net - did not tell you how many would be killed but when California, Hawaii and maybe a fair chunk of Japan go for a swim it won't be pretty.
  • NASA spends about $3m per year(according to a FAQ [nearearthobjects.co.uk] on the UK-government-sponsored NEO watch site [nearearthobjects.co.uk]) and has a page listing NEOs [nasa.gov] with some (mainly technical) information.

    My favourite FAQ from the UK site is:

    Are we going to die?

    Yes. We are all going to die some time. It is, however, very unlikely that the collision of a Near Earth Object will be responsible.

  • Forget Congress. They're asking for an increase of less than 17 million/year! Come on, how many Slashdot readers are there ... we could almost pull off that much money ourselves.
    You'd think out of the 7 billion on the planet, at least 17 million of us (less than half a percent) would care enough to pitch in a dollar a year. I'm in for my buck.

  • Why should this concern us? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Embedded Geek ( 532893 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @04:33PM (#6409968) Homepage
    After all, no one else in the past has ever seen this as a credible threat. Not previous U.S. administrations, not the British Empire, not the Romans, not the Dinosaurs...

    Er, then again, maybe we should have a contingency plan.

  • Top 10 Ways to Avoid Nasty Planet Collisions (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    10. Spend days and days destroying planets in the arcade game "Mad Planets". Surely this skill will be useful somehow when the time comes.

    9. The "Space 1999" lesson: blow up a nuclear waste dump, and we escape orbit. Wacky hijinks with Barbara Bain will ensue.

    8. Make a deal with the dolphins ("So long, and thanks for all the fish")

    7. Bet your life savings that worlds will collide. A sure way to make sure it never happens

    6. Increase funding to "Star Wars"/ SDI by thousands and thousands of percent. Sure,
  • ...have flashes of Armageddon or any of those other asteroid/meteor type movies pop into your head?

    Frankly, I doubt, with all the global instability about war and terrorism, the US can make any kind of strategic defense against such a threat without the other nations of the world thinking "They're making Weapons of Mass Destruction!!!" And what nation would believe the US is building weapons as a defense against potential celestial bodies that are approaching and not just arming itself for invasion... Br
    • "And what nation would believe the US is building weapons as a defense against potential celestial bodies that are approaching and not just arming itself for invasion.

      The only countries that would have to worry about such an invasion would be the Hitlerian dictatorships. Let 'em worry. That is not a bad thing.
    • Speaking of weapons, do you remember the idea to redirect an asteroid to fall on Telford [telegraph.co.uk], obliterating a large chunk of Great Britain? There are even pictures [telegraph.co.uk]!

  • Star Wars anyone? (Score:4, Funny)

    by jeffkjo1 ( 663413 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @06:47PM (#6411092) Homepage
    for "the first time in human history, we have the potential to protect ourselves from a catastrophe of truly cosmic proportions." A three phase program is urged that includes detection, exploration, and contingency planning.
    This plan sounds suspiciously like an excuse to put lasers in space.... I can see it now,
    "My fellow citizens, in the name of securing ourselves from evil celestial bodies hurtling towards the earth and thousands of miles per hour, we are beginning an expansive program to protect each and every citizen on this great planet. These lasers will be used for peaceful purposes... we wouldn't even think of aiming them at certain nations that have restarted nuclear programs or anything like that... noooooo."
  • if we all just walk up on our tiptoes and flail our arms around while swining our right legs out in big sweeping arcs, then we turn invisible.

    seriously, try this out at the mall and suddenly it is like you aren't even there, people won't notice or look at you at all. and if you are there with anyone, they too will suddenly not see you anymore.

    nothing can collide with you if it can't see you.

    seriously - perfect logic.
    fear me.

  • Other threats (Score:3, Funny)

    by hondo77 ( 324058 ) on Thursday July 10, 2003 @07:24PM (#6411299) Homepage
    Yeah, asteroids and comets are one type of threat but what about others that we aren't expecting?:
    • Black holes
    • Vogons
    • The Spanish Inquisition
    • We have evidence that Earth has been hit by asteroids before with devastating consequences. Furthermore, we know of numerous asteroids in the solar system. Therefore, the threat of asteroid impact is credible. We can be fairly sure that black holes exist, but the chances of encountering a solar-massed black hole is about the same as the chance of encountering a solar-massed star. We have no evidence for the existence of hostile aliens. Therefore, neither black holes nor Vogons are a credible threat.

      At
    • and we all know: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
  • The picture that they show one the site, and which I have seen being used before, is totally out of proportions. There is really no way we could ever defend us against an objects the size of a thousand kilometers. Even some moons around some of the planets are smaller. It is very unlikely that Earth will be hit with a object of that size in the coming million years.

    However, people are unaware of the effects that even a much smaller object could have on our economy, depending on where it hits.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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