Saturday, December 22, 2007

Mars Needs Women Meteor Defenses

Or it would if there was anybody there: Incoming!

...I had done the Happy Dance first and I'm trying to remember if the last time I did one was about when we found out Jupiter was due for a shellacking.... Naw, can't be!

The greybeards set the odds at one in 75 but suspect better data will make a miss more likely. The bolide's about the size of the one that popped over Tunguska. A hit on Mars could be quite interesting -- and might help wake up our own Skywatch efforts for the planet where I keep all my stuff.

There are some darned big rocks out there, moving in orbits that intersect our Earth's. The evidence is good that a big hit is likely to result in an extinction-level event. If there was ever an argument for human presence in space, -- a massive, self-sustaining to the greatest possible extent human presence just as rapidly as we can manage it -- that's it. Our sun's something of an "attractive* nuisance," like a big backyard swimming pool in a bad neighborhood. A bodyguard and a life raft would be pretty good to maintain.
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* Pun intended. Consequences?

2 comments:

Carteach said...

Crying shame 99.9999% of the human population really doesn't care if the human race survives past... say.... dinner time.

Think of the spin off wonders from such a space population investment!

Wonder if I would survive with Manny and the crew, pushing rocks around?

phlegmfatale said...

Oh, the gravity!

If a big rock doesn't get us, the supervolcano under Yellowstone will. It's always something!