[rusty craine]

Last night I saw an old friend from college. We were in the Masters program together. We were talking about the Rosetta that is going to land on comet.

Of course we both got our pencils and napkins out. All you have to do is hit a 3 mile wide body circling the sun every six years going 20k mph.

Oh the are a few more variables. LoL. hey them guys are smart.

Did you ever try to figure out how to hit an asteroid? :sbrug:

 

[longrifle346]

Sorry rusty, LMBO, I was too busy concentrating on how NOT to give them more of my paycheck so they could use it to go land on a rock hurtling through space! It's a lofty endeavor and I'm sure if they put their minds to it they could do it but it's not one that I see is gonna benefit the first man, woman, or child on Earth....

 

[pondscum2]

hit an asteroid that far off, going that fast? shoot, I still haven't hit a turkey twenty yards away standing still with an arrow...:sbrug:

 

[StevenB]

Did you ever try to figure out how to hit an asteroid? :sbrug:

Of course. As a kid, I used to play the Asteroids video game in the mall. It's a piece of cake.

 

[DanaC]

Get in the way, let it hit you.

Longrifle, do a search on 'mining asteroids'. It might someday be possible to capture and refine a -big- gob of metal, in space using solar power, and deliver it to Earth. (Or LEO.) Beats heck out of strip mines and other ecologically damaging methods.

 

[rusty craine]

I guess the Rosetta is beading toward an asteroid
; since speed is 20k. Seems the comets are faster even 100ks

The first thing you have to do is represent both orbits mathematically so you can find where there relative positions are.

 

[rusty craine]

Refresher 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler's_laws_of_planetary_motion

We are going to use a programming language Perl to write a program to track relative positioning

 

[longrifle346]

Dana I totally understand the possibilities...and potential benefits... but I tend to deal with here and now before expending a lot of energy on the what if. Right now, here in my own little world, I know I could benefit greatly from a newer, more efficient HVAC system but I realize that the budget doesn't allow for it. So while I may look for ways to save energy that are within my grasp, I don't start planning a drive to California to see what Silicon Valley has to offer....

Nothing wrong with contemplation as long as it it's tempered with common sense.

 

[rusty craine]

It is the magnitude of the task that is beyond remarkable. For the probe to get to asteroid was an 11 year trip. I know the money is an important consideration but pales significantly to the intellectual quest

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=Rosetta

 

[rusty craine]

Web site

http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov/

 

[DanaC]

Longrifle, I can only say, the trans-continental railroad and the Erie canal seemed like folly at the time they were proposed. Today's dream is tomorrows' windfall. I remember hearing that some day I could have tons of music on an electronic device. Today my old i-pod is considered an out-dated 'classic' ;-)

Bottom line is, I bet on progress. Even if it doesn't happen in my lifetime.

""but I tend to deal with here and now before expending a lot of energy on the what if.""

I take a different view - my life is finite, but hopefully something of my dreams will endure. It's why I expend a good deal of time and effort on a club and various conservation organizations that take the long view - so that future generations will have what I do, and hopefully a bit more.

 

[rusty craine]

I believe we will be mining the asteroid before 2100. That makes the most sense of anything man bas done in the last 5000 years

 

[DanaC]

Amen, Rusty, the technology exists, what we need is the -will-.

 

[longrifle346]

No sir, I believe that we have the will. What we lack is the necessary funding. DanaC I totally get your point, maybe you missed mine, which was strictly financial. Dreaming, experimenting, and exploring possibilities is certainly desirable...even necessary/mandatory for the advancement of mankind....if/when the budget constraints allow it. Right now we can't even make the technology currently available in renewable resources affordable to the average consumer. I'm merely suggesting that we address that before allocating funds to entertain the possibility of mining a rock hurtling through space. We have fish to fry right here on this planet.....

 

[stevelong]

I agree with Michael.
Obama thinks we can't afford our military.
Our military is a NEED.
The Des Moines Airport is closing out the Air National Guard people & program.
If we weren't spending money on trying to grab this space rock our military would be funded without concerns.
This is just one small example.
If private concerns want to totally fund the space rock project and other space items I don't mind, but I hate spending tax money for it that should be going for realistic national economic and security concerns.

 

[rusty craine]

We can afford to give Ukraine a billion $$$. Flood yearly money into Israel, to the Palestinians etc, etc. billions and billions to make no progress in the Muslim States. Millions and millions to undocumented families.

Sooo little money to take care of our little blue planet in the Goldie.locks zone.

Hey we are likely to tap the asteroids for water real soon. What goes around comes around.

 

[stevelong]

yep Rusty - priorities.
Yours, mine & most will all be real varied.

 

[eriks]

NASA's budget is a pittance compared to other things we spend money on. Much of it is spent on basic science research (which is already hugely underfunded in this country). Basic science research is a huge driver of economic and intellectual activity.

Watching the coverage of this missing plane has really reminded me how scientifically and technologically illiterate this country is.

 

[DanaC]

Steve, I said it elsewhere, we spend vastly more than any other country on our military. No one else even comes close. So we have the weapons and we have the boots. We also have waste in the military, just like every other government program. (And, yes, there is waste in NASA.)

My belief is that spending government money on certain projects, like railroads or interstate highways, canals or space exploration, yields long-term gains in wealth that ultimately make us stronger.

But taking the long view is becoming harder for corporations and governments alike. Corporate execs can't see past the next quarterly report, elected officials can't see past the next election.

John Kennedy set a goal - men on the moon - that took longer than two Presidential terms to achieve. So even if he'd lived and been re-elected he would not have been President when Armstrong took his historic first step. BUT, Kennedy took the long view, giving us a larger vision. Who is doing that today? Because I'd love to see that sort of inspiration again. We are poorer without it.

 

[eriks]

It is all about priorities.

For what we spent on the Iraq war we could have paid for NASA at double its current funding levels from now until 2040.