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(meteorobs) Re: potentially hazardous objects (PHA's)
In your message dated Friday 20, February 1998 you wrote :
>
> To All List Members:
>
> Recently I have been posting warnings of doom from near Earth object
> impactors to members of this list to see what kind of reaction I could get
> from a group of people most likely to be responsive to such matters.
(snip...snip)
I think you've got to appreciate that, even if we were able to influence
governments into pouring funds into such projects - a rather naive suggestion I
may say - it's not going to solve the problem of potential impacts. Knowing an
impactor is out there is a world away from being able to do something about it.
Should we try to destroy or deflect the incoming object? And if so, with what?
Nuclear bombs? Would such a method work? Do we have the technology to achieve
these objectives?
This raises all sorts of ethical questions. Should we put nuclear weapons into
orbit on stand-by? Couldn't governments use this as an excuse to keep their
enemies at bay? Surely we should be trying to keep weapons out of space!
The other thing to keep in mind is that the risk of a globally catastrophic
impact is quite small. What is more worrying is the risk from house-size objects
that will not destroy the human race but which could make a helluva bang,
perhaps killing tens of thusands of people in a large city. However, even the
most optimistic proponents of projects like Spaceguard admit that there isn't
much you can do about small-ish impactors anyway - and there probably never will
be. I think at the end of the day we are going to have to accept impactors in
much the same way as we accept Earthquakes, volcanoes, tornados, etc.
Let's not get paranoid about this hazard!
--
Phil Bagnall
http://www.ticetboodot demon.codot uk/
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