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People of Earth: GET OUT OF THE WAY!!
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: [QB] I think a better topic title would've been "KNEEL BEFORE APOPHIS!" :D For those that forget, this is the same asteroid that everyone was wetting their pants over about two years ago, when preliminary calculations estimated only a 1/85 (no trailing zeroes) chance of it hitting the planet in 2029, which was not good. Now, they're fairly sure it'll miss the planet in 2029 (though it'll be really, [i]really[/i] close), but the close encounter with the Earth's mass could change its orbit to make an actual impact more likely in 2036. I'm impressed by the simplicity of this concept, the gravity tractor. Everyone always talks about using nukes and lasers and other crap that we really don't have, and aren't likely to have. A simple, massive satellite to nudge the asteroid out of the way is a beautiful plan, because when you're literally talking astronomical distances like these, just a tiny fraction of a degree of movement is enough to make it miss the planet entirely. And the fact that they're figuring only [i]twelve days[/i] would be necessary to alter the trajectory is damn cool. The only question is, what's the potential for a project like this making the situation worse? If the calculations aren't precise, it's possible that they could turn a near-miss into an impact instead. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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