Asteroid May Soon Slam into Mars
- Thread starter Andrew Boulton
- Start date
Captain Midnight
SOC-12
Generally, when asteroids slam into things, it's for gravitational or ballistic reasons, not political. Sorry to disappoint you.
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
I believe he is referring to the "kick in the pants" thoery of politics.
"In Congress, nothing ever gets done without a kick in the pants."
If an asteroid hits Mars, there will be a great outcry for the various nations to develop an effective defense against asteroids.
As nothing we currently have has any chance of having any noticable effect on an asteroid nearing Earth, that means lots of money and effort to develop the ability to deploy large things far further out than we have yet.
That will, as a side effect, produce a capability that can be easily adapted to manned space-flight, giving the entire space program a major boost.
That would be the "desirable political" reason for hoping for a Mars impact.
"In Congress, nothing ever gets done without a kick in the pants."
If an asteroid hits Mars, there will be a great outcry for the various nations to develop an effective defense against asteroids.
As nothing we currently have has any chance of having any noticable effect on an asteroid nearing Earth, that means lots of money and effort to develop the ability to deploy large things far further out than we have yet.
That will, as a side effect, produce a capability that can be easily adapted to manned space-flight, giving the entire space program a major boost.
That would be the "desirable political" reason for hoping for a Mars impact.
Merovex
SOC-2
However, the present Congress will merely find a blue ribbon panel of past politicians to come back with a set of recommendations. That's how they can effectively do nothing while giving the appearance of caring. This blue ribbon panel will come back and recommend building two new space shuttles that are outfitted with nucular warheads and oil drilling equipment. They will then train a bunch of roughnecks to operate the shuttles and engage said inbound meteor.
I personally vote for everybody on the planet to alternately jump at precise moments of the day (ala hands across america) to shove the Earth out of the way. Dodging is always easier.
I personally vote for everybody on the planet to alternately jump at precise moments of the day (ala hands across america) to shove the Earth out of the way. Dodging is always easier.
Yeah, politicians .......
Aramis, you apparently have more faith in politicians than I do. The levees around New Orleans were known for decades to be too weak to hold under the stress of anything rated a type 4 Hurricane or greater, nothing was done. Osama Bin Laden was known to be an anti-American Terrorist since 1996, He was on the CIA's most wanted list in 1997, Clinton had a chance to get him. Politicians did nothing. Not until AFTER 9/11! The Foam that caused fatal damage to the space shuttle launch was known to be unreliable, but political expediancy demanded it get used because it was "GREEN".
I propose this, Poltically speaking, politicians will do nothing about an asteroid impact on earth until and unless a sizeable piece of rock lands somewhere in a populated place AND someone dies as a direct result!
WHY you may ask? Because there is no political gain putting money in to the space industry. Politicians are more like animals than any other branch of humanity, they do what they do ONLY for political survival. They have no sense of curiosity for the unknown. NO sense of adventure! Politicians are not dreamers, they are the ultimate realists. and pictures of an asteroid hitting mars will be only so many pretty lights.
At least that's what I think of American Politicians, I hope the up and coming Japanese and the Chinese space agencies, and the Euro and Russian space programs do more. The Americans might have the tech edge, but that's the only edge we have left.
Does anyone here know of ANY politicians in America that still dream of men on Mars.
Aramis, you apparently have more faith in politicians than I do. The levees around New Orleans were known for decades to be too weak to hold under the stress of anything rated a type 4 Hurricane or greater, nothing was done. Osama Bin Laden was known to be an anti-American Terrorist since 1996, He was on the CIA's most wanted list in 1997, Clinton had a chance to get him. Politicians did nothing. Not until AFTER 9/11! The Foam that caused fatal damage to the space shuttle launch was known to be unreliable, but political expediancy demanded it get used because it was "GREEN".
I propose this, Poltically speaking, politicians will do nothing about an asteroid impact on earth until and unless a sizeable piece of rock lands somewhere in a populated place AND someone dies as a direct result!
WHY you may ask? Because there is no political gain putting money in to the space industry. Politicians are more like animals than any other branch of humanity, they do what they do ONLY for political survival. They have no sense of curiosity for the unknown. NO sense of adventure! Politicians are not dreamers, they are the ultimate realists. and pictures of an asteroid hitting mars will be only so many pretty lights.
At least that's what I think of American Politicians, I hope the up and coming Japanese and the Chinese space agencies, and the Euro and Russian space programs do more. The Americans might have the tech edge, but that's the only edge we have left.
Does anyone here know of ANY politicians in America that still dream of men on Mars.
Renaissance Man
SOC-12
Actually, politicians have had a great love of space, but not for public safety or a sense of adventure. After WW2, the space program was a great way to put billions of dollars of taxpayer money into the aerospace industry. Then there were spinoff technologies which had direct military benefits (remember those ICBMs?) and later, commercial benefits.
That's why, in the Cold War years, the big money-maker as a scientist was physics. Grants, grants and more grants for anybody studying theories of matter, nuclear science, rocketry, the electromagnetic spectrum, etc. etc. The last gasp of this kind of funding was Reagan's SDI. Successful missile defence, and the accompanying weaponization of space, would be a major boost to NASA. But the initial costs are huge, both politically and economically. Nowadays missile defence has been reduced to talk of "rogue states" and it's been lost in the rhetoric about terrorism. People are more afraid of a suitcase nuke than something Iran might launch in 20 years.
The much safer bet these days is biology, genetics and the like. That's where all the major promise is in new military and commercial technology. Bad news if you're trying to build a hugely expensive particle accelerator. Or if you work at the JPL.
That might change if there's a Mars impact. Imagine how much more comfortable we'd be with a trillion dollar space-based weapons system if we had a credible fear of incoming rocks.
I think Aramis and Black Bat are right.
Ren man
If there were still a cold war, which ended in the Reagan Era, I probably wouldn't have posted as I did. My point was that there are no more visionaries serving the American people. This may change, but the current crop of politicos shows no promise of having a forward looking vision. I am with Aramis in hoping for an impact, I can only dream of the information that would provide. Maybe in the 2012 election cycle we'll see someone with an eye towards the future.
I wonder if EvilDrGanymede will be watching?
Be interesting to have an 'insider' opinion
If there were still a cold war, which ended in the Reagan Era, I probably wouldn't have posted as I did. My point was that there are no more visionaries serving the American people. This may change, but the current crop of politicos shows no promise of having a forward looking vision. I am with Aramis in hoping for an impact, I can only dream of the information that would provide. Maybe in the 2012 election cycle we'll see someone with an eye towards the future.
I wonder if EvilDrGanymede will be watching?
Be interesting to have an 'insider' opinion
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