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Just call in Bruce Willis and the boys...

posted by : Magnus Eriksson, 29 July 2008 Complain about this comment
ummm

The mass of a geosynch satellite (hell, I'm willing to guess all of them at once) is so small compared to the mass of the asteroid that even if it weren't coming by at the wrong angle to hit any of them the momentum would be so trivial so as not to bother the asteroid orbit at all.

And yes doomed, that would apply to the mass of a beacon as well...
CWR

posted by : Curtis W. Rendon, 02 July 2008 Complain about this comment
doomed

Has no-one thought that it might well not be on an earth colliding orbit, but the process of landing a radio beacon on it, will change the orbit itself and could very well put it on an orbit that will result in a collision!

posted by : Mike, 30 June 2008 Complain about this comment
Business as usual

Ooh, another space rock scare.
So we can get accuracy to the tens of meters. And ? So we know a week or month in advance that Apophis WILL hit the Earth.
I know that all those who are happy that France will be liquidated are joking, because it's the Earth that will get hit, not just a country.
So what do we do when we KNOW we're going to get hit ?
Are we going to launch all our ICBMs in a hope that some of those blasts will push the killer off-course ? I doubt that will be useful - a nuke blast in the void of interstellar space does nothing but create a wave of radiation - there is no atmosphere to push against. Maybe a few hundred radiation baths could do something, though.
Or will we send Bruce Willis on a suicide mission to drill a hole and plant a nuke in the asteroids core to blow it apart, thus creating two or more major impactors instead of one big one ? The blast will have to be powerful enough to not only seperate the pieces, but also prevent local gravitational attraction from keeping them together. I doubt even a 10 megaton weapon can do that - billions of tons of rock is so much harder to blow apart than to simply push away.
Or will we just descend into a mindless survivalistic craze, murdering our neighbor in search of one more can of food, one more candle, one last Spears CD ?
So, what are our options ? Is that it ?

I'll be on the deck of the Titanic with a glass of champagne. Cheers !

posted by : Pascal Monett, 30 June 2008 Complain about this comment
un-science fiction

you should have posted the article about the nvidia gtx gx2 instead.

posted by : xkillerx, 30 June 2008 Complain about this comment
What's the problem?

Can the area the size of France that gets turned into desert actually be France? Would make for a very nice European car-park.

posted by : Dan D, 30 June 2008 Complain about this comment
Dougal - a zenophic yank

Oh quieten up you twat, your just the average yank who is having a sore arse when it comes to the french.

How about the pentagon Eh? would get the world rid of some war mongering neo-cons.

posted by : Vincent, 29 June 2008 Complain about this comment
Cold? Yes. Ice age? Maybe not.

Technically, it appears that the ice age is initiated by melting ice caps and polar shift as the record of the rocks on the spreading sea floor and other datum suggests. 

This would be an extended period of reduced light of some degree but I'm not sure it's accurate to suggest the cyclic ice ages might be initiated by asteroids.

Thanks all!

posted by : WSmart, 29 June 2008 Complain about this comment
Sphere As BIG As 100 Story Building

Umm Umaguma, LaLa ,Dah Dah Day No Hit Ultie_Tom. Ummm Umaguma, YaYA.....Is It Say Your Prays Time?

Ultie ?Th8nks NOT. First if you take city block(about 700 feet) & Fill it with ICE(NOT Hardest Substance) to height of 100 story building, thats apep. BIG yet, after Burning thru Atmosphere, Turning Slushy? Maybe FEW Tons of Sushi Could be Recovered. Few Sq. Miles at Most would be affected. Maybe ALL of London, Minster & What Not, Yet Shirley NOT Ultie_Tom(Too Hard Headed).NEXT:
NVIDIA's 1.4 Billion Transistor GPU: GT200 Arrives as the GeForce GTX 280 & 260.19June. I read somewhere near Hear 1 billion, well correction 1.4 Billion & there all active, NOT huge L caches. Remeber: Before Being Blast Off Planet:GTX 280 X2 will be 2.8 Billion transistors. Much More than 9800GTX X2 at 1.5 Billies. Although Seen in wild for above Suggested List Price, 9800GTX is $199 RETAIL item. Nvidia Surprise US SomeMore.

Now I Ask You, Which Is Bigger? Dumb Giant SnoCone or Billions of Transistors. Choice Three:Drasher.
drashek 

posted by : Doubtful, 29 June 2008 Complain about this comment
We're all gonna die!

Hit the desert? Hit the OCEAN? Pfft, have you not seen the movies? These things only hit small, densely populated areas! Time to invest in a tinfoil hat!

posted by : Ronald Reagan, 29 June 2008 Complain about this comment
Size matters

"Apophis, midsized as asteroids go at 350 meters in diameter"

Is that electricity meters or gas meters, one is over twice the size of the other. We should be told.

Unless of course you mean 'metres'???

posted by : P.Edant, 29 June 2008 Complain about this comment
Global warming

Well, this might be a drastic solution for the runaway global warming

posted by : etabeta, 29 June 2008 Complain about this comment
France

A desert the size of France? How about if it hits the Sahara, what then? Will that turn into a tropical forest the size of France? What about if it hits the ocean, of which the majority of the Earth's surface consists? I'm worried here.

posted by : sugammadex, 29 June 2008 Complain about this comment
"This is a test..."

It should be painfully clear by now that (the Deity of your choice) has grown tired of mankind's little squabbles with itself, and has devised a test.
If humanity can't learn to work and live together to solve this common problem, then by (insert Deity of your choice), we shall perish together, and soon.
All bets are off.
When it happens, Washington politicians will still be making speeches and the Middle East crackpots will still be indulging in whack-thy-neighbor.
What's left, cockroaches and a few plants, will no longer be living on a planet quarantined as the insane asylum of the universe.

posted by : Charles Greene, 28 June 2008 Complain about this comment
C'est fini?

France did you say? Roll on 2029!

posted by : Dougal, 28 June 2008 Complain about this comment

Russians offer to track asteroid threat

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