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Russian scientists brace for approaching asteroid
Published: 20 January, 2010, 08:48
Edited: 16 October, 2010, 14:56
Russia’s space agency has been holding meetings about Apophis – the asteroid due to pass close to Earth in 2029. If it is not diverted, a collision could potentially kill millions, scientists say.
The asteroid over Indonesia last year had to have been of a magnitude of 50 kilotonn. But did that seriously happen? Cool... As for Brians question: No. That area of quantum theory, Heisenbergs uncertainty principles that is, only plays a big deal at a quantum level (very small). Of course, one do change the initial values slightly by observing the asteroid, but I doubt that has anything to say:) Sad thing is that the years before 2029 will be filled with the same doomsday prophecies as that of today (2012...) all over again. At least some Hollywood people will make a nice bunch of money when they make a movie out of it^^ Just wait and see, it will happen...
The 2 commenters above are WAY off the mark. The 2004 Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) asteroid probe mission actually landed a sampler , which lay for 1/2 hour on the surface of the asteroid. No need for fuzzy calculations OR thinking here- if the asteroid is a threat, we'll send a probe that can harpoon or gun-rod -ancho itself to it, that mounts a nuclear-thrust (or any other kind of rocket engine) on it and shove it to the side in an orbit we can calculate- based on its current orbit and the thrust we give it with our lander. This is current technology- I'm not talking about anything new here.
Pulverizing the object with nuclear devices may just increase the probability of being hit by more and smaller objects in more densely populated areas. Nudging it out of an orbit likely to collide with Earth may put it on a more deadly track in the future. A smaller process using less force than either may produce the "butterfly effect" in reverse and take it out of harms way permanently. (then again, by observing the experiment, we are changing the outcome, according to quantum thinkers...so perhaps we've been missed in the past by ignoring some of these objects?)