Easterbrook in Atlantic Monthly - NASA Not Preventing Possible Space Rock Catastrophe

[Keith]

In typical Gregg Easterbrook fashion, this article is was too long for it's own good, but given we live in Space City, I figure more than a few us would be interested and have an opinion on it (or Easterbrook ).

Snipped from the middle of the article:

Wouldn’t shifting NASA’s focus away from wasting money on the moon and toward something of clear benefit for the entire world—identifying and deflecting dangerous space objects—be a surer route to enhancing national prestige? But NASA’s institutional instinct is not to ask, “What can we do in space that makes sense?” Rather, it is to ask, “What can we do in space that requires lots of astronauts?” That finding and stopping space rocks would be an expensive mission with little role for the astronaut corps is, in all likelihood, the principal reason NASA doesn’t want to talk about the asteroid threat.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/asteroids

[Arky]

Yeah, the History Channel has done a number of programs on this topic, coincidentally, there is one on right now. They are saying that the number of people working on this "problem" could work a shift at a McDonald's....

[edo783]

I know it would be more interesting to try that sort of thing, but I look at it as having to learn how to walk first and I think that is what NASA is doing. Lets get it down by hitting a target that is relatively close, you pretty much know where it will be before trying to figure out how to hit things that are a bit further away, smaller and somewhat more random in location. Also, the moon would make a pretty good jumping off point from a facility there to do just what is asked.

[KJ3]

Originally Posted by edo783

I know it would be more interesting to try that sort of thing, but I look at it as having to learn how to walk first and I think that is what NASA is doing. Lets get it down by hitting a target that is relatively close, you pretty much know where it will be before trying to figure out how to hit things that are a bit further away, smaller and somewhat more random in location. Also, the moon would make a pretty good jumping off point from a facility there to do just what is asked.

a lunar battle station?

i like it. doubles as an anti-alien invasion base (just to calm down the weirdos). just hook the moon up with all the nukes we can find!!!

but we would have to have some we-are-the-world space crew so nobody feels like a bomb is about to get dropped on 'em.

i can't believe anybody is even worried about asteriods. that would be fun to watch until it hit!! haha, but seriously with how unpredictable space is (and uh...how we know probably one-trillionth of all there is to know about space) if there were an asteriod coming i doubt we would know in time to do anything about it.

my top 5 best space annihilations:
5. reality splitting
4. when the sun explodes
3. an asteriod collision
2. an alien attack
1. being sucked into a black hole.

[papabear]

Having a presence on the moon could possibly make it easier to detect an asteroid big enough to really do some damage...and serve as a launching point for Bruce Willis to go out there and take care of it for us.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by papabear

...and serve as a launching point for Bruce Willis to go out there and take care of it for us.

I'd prefer to send my painful memories of the 2005 Texans instead.

[KJ3]

anybody seen that robot chicken were they send harrison ford and aerosmith into space to stop an asteroid?

you should if you haven't.

[Vinny]

Gregg "chicken little" Easterbrook is basically telling us the sky is falling and nobody cares. I think I've heard this story somewhere before.