Funding Asteroid Discovery
So, a large asteroid is going to wave at us as it passes tonight, which means there will be a few news and talk shows that will give it a brief mention. It won't get nearly the attention that Britney Spears or her sister will receive, but hey. It'll get some attention. A recent NASA study found that there are "...about 20,000 asteroids and comets orbiting relatively close to our planet that could deliver blows ranging from destroying cities to ending all life."
So you'd think that this would be important to the government, especially NASA, in terms of funding and focus. I mean, no matter what some scientific oddsmakers might say, the undeniable facts are:
- Earth has been getting pelted by these things for billions of years.
- We will always be at risk of getting pelted by these things in the future.
So it's more than a little alarming/bewildering that this, of all government-funded projects, is perilously underfunded.
Chorus: WTF?
We waste tens of billions on a variety of futile programs and projects every year, but when we go back to ye olde pockets to fund a program to locate and analyze these things, we pull out lint. It's as if foresight itself is not understood. It wouldn't even be particularly expensive to do it.
At least Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart is trying. Read this (2 pages), join the chorus. There's nothing "alarmist" about funding and committing to a program like this. It's about logic, reason, preparation, and millions of species. You'd think that something so obviously important would be taken care of...
4 Comments:
Where are Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck when you need them?
9:02 AM
I see what you are saying but have another perspective. On one hand, it's a scary proposition (total annihilation by asteroid). On the other hand, however, there's a part of me that thinks the earth might benefit from just such a catastrophic hit. Would it be so bad if there were, to use Schweickart's metaphor, a global re-boot? There's a chance for "something completely different." Moreover, I find it difficult to defend the continuation of the human species on grounds other than pure systemic self-preservation. Anyway, the sun's going to supernova, and earth will be toast long before that.
11:34 AM
Jeez, Ty.
A "global reboot" would not be appreciable. There'd be nobody around. To figure that as a decent alternative is just too nihilistic for my taste buds.
And the sun is more likely to swell but fail to supernova. In the swelling, yea. Earth would be entoasted. (If that's not a word, it should be.) But that won't happen for so long, we ought to be "stationed elsewhere" by then.
12:49 PM
A global reboot? I don't know about that, but something needs to smack the world's population upside the head. Too many morons leading countries.
8:48 PM
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