Close call? or Meh....

[neufox47]

And do what about it? Even when they've known about it for months or years they still can't predict where it's going to hit with enough warning to be useful.

We should also be getting better at predicting their exact track. And we should learn how to steer the fuckers away. Only a matter of time before one hits.

[t-the-east]

My guess is they knew about it well in advance but given there are so many pussies out there nowadays NASA figured that if they made a big deal out of it this would push a shit load of them off the edge so they came up with the BS story the OP pulled from MSN.

New generation will all get trophies stating they survived 2019 OK

[redacted user]

I'm ok with death by asteroid.

[old goat]

I was watching Hidden Figures, which is a bullshit movie about some very not bullshit people, but it made me appreciate how complicated things like predicting orbits and trajectories in space are--especially back when they had to do this stuff without computers. For starters, in order to know the exact path of an asteroid as it nears earth you have to know its weight and speed. Speed I guess is simple enough, but the weight is just an educated guess I think.

[riser4]

I was watching Hidden Figures, which is a bullshit movie about some very not bullshit people, but it made me appreciate how complicated things like predicting orbits and trajectories in space are--especially back when they had to do this stuff without computers. For starters, in order to know the exact path of an asteroid as it nears earth you have to know its weight and speed. Speed I guess is simple enough, but the weight is just an educated guess I think.

Extrapolate backwards to get weight? Since you have some idea of at least part of the previous path? I am definitely not a rocket dentist. I got a C in diff eq.

[old goat]

Extrapolate backwards to get weight? Since you have some idea of at least part of the previous path? I am definitely not a rocket dentist. I got a C in diff eq.

That's farther than I got in math so I'll defer to your judgement.

[highangle]

Given the quasi-steady orbital properties (instantaneous position, velocity and time) of a group of celestial bodies, predict their interactive forces; and consequently, predict their true orbital motions for all future times

[highangle]

I'm ok with death by asteroid.

If everyone else is doin'it...then someone has to be the best, right?

[SumJongGuy]

We should also be getting better at predicting their exact track. And we should learn how to steer the fuckers away. Only a matter of time before ANOTHER one hits.

Fixed it for you. We can't even agree on how to work together to reduce the impact of climate change globally. We can't even work together at a national level secure our elections from Russian and Chinese interference.. Good luck with the efforts to find shit our best efforts miss week in and week out. Thanks to today's anti science climate we're fucked!

[Bunion 2020]

Not to worry, Gawd will protect us.

(whichever Deity you happen to label a Gawd.)

[m2711c]

Praise the lort!

[jono]

We should also be getting better at predicting their exact track. And we should learn how to steer the fuckers away. Only a matter of time before one hits.

Yes. Takes at least a little time to plan steering, but we should start with more sensors spaced wider. Each Lagrange point, at least. And we should do it before someone decides to fill the low-earth orbit space with the debris of the current satellites.

[old goat]

Yes. Takes at least a little time to plan steering, but we should start with more sensors spaced wider. Each Lagrange point, at least. And we should do it before someone decides to fill the low-earth orbit space with the debris of the current satellites.

If we fill up low earth orbit with the debris of curret satellites, would that protect us from asteroids.
Good piece on Nova last week (better than the usual bullshit, all still a fair amount of bullshit.) Talking about Mars, the late heavy bombardment with asteroids 3.8 billion years ago, and also how Mars lost it's magnetic field which allowed the solar wind to strip it of most of its atmosphere and water.

[jono]

If we fill up low earth orbit with the debris of curret satellites, would that protect us from asteroids.

No, the asteroids that matter are too big. It will protect some of us from some of space, though: from the USSF, many an orbital weapons system, from the users of reliable GPS, lots of satellite communications, maybe ICBM's?

Sounds like the Martians lost.