NASA predicts that an asteroid buzzing by in 2032 might hit Earth

Runwildboys said:
Yes, but a controlled push on a different course would be more predictable. If they could be sure that it'd shatter into pieces small enough to disintegrate in our atmosphere, that would probably be optimal. There's still the possibility that those pieces could destroy satellites or space stations.
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I think the nudge is more than likely what they would do. It takes less force, maybe even non-nuclear and it is more likely to succeed simply because we just have to nudge it slightly in the opposite direction the earth is traveling. Even an impact that would slow it down would cause it to miss the earth. But I would still have a backup plan in case the first projectile misses. The space rock is still traveling at 38,000 miles per hour and it would be incredibly difficult to hit something moving that fast even if we have done it before.

At the same time, I wonder if the temptation to use a nuke would be too great to resist. I have to believe there are guys in the Pentagon that would love to know how a nuke works in space. We kind of know the theory, but seeing an actual detonation in the ether of space would confirm our theories or alter them. Plus, it would be cool to watch on a sure to be recorded video.
 
Creeper said:
I think the nudge is more than likely what they would do. It takes less force, maybe even non-nuclear and it is more likely to succeed simply because we just have to nudge it slightly in the opposite direction the earth is traveling. Even an impact that would slow it down would cause it to miss the earth. But I would still have a backup plan in case the first projectile misses. The space rock is still traveling at 38,000 miles per hour and it would be incredibly difficult to hit something moving that fast even if we have done it before.

At the same time, I wonder if the temptation to use a nuke would be too great to resist. I have to believe there are guys in the Pentagon that would love to know how a nuke works in space. We kind of know the theory, but seeing an actual detonation in the ether of space would confirm our theories or alter them. Plus, it would be cool to watch on a sure to be recorded video.
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I can absolutely guarantee that a number of the wonks and nerds infesting the bowels of the Pentagon would want to see that. And the generals and others who dream of weaponizing everything would love it too.
 
Of course I just watched a movie called Greenland (I would definitely recommend it if you haven's seen it yet) about this particular subject. It's more humbling than the Michael Bay music video aka Armageddon. :)
 
SlammedZero said:
They increased the possibility of it hitting Earth. It now has a 2.3% chance of impacting Earth on December 22, 2032. This probability has increased from over 1% in January 2025. Astronomers plan to use the James Webb Space Telescope in March to get a better estimate of asteroid 2024 YR4's size and trajectory.

Sometimes it's easy to forget (as we're grabbing coffee, paying bills, and debating if pineapple belongs on pizza) that we’re just chilling on this rock, spinning at 1,000 mph, hurtling around the sun at 67,000 mph, all while dodging space debris, asteroids, and who knows what else flying through the galaxy.

The universe is basically a giant, chaotic pinball machine. The fact that we don’t get smacked by space rocks more often is kind of a miracle. It’s very humbling to think about.
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Yes, the dinosaurs had this problem. They did send a spaceship up to deflect it, but their technology failed. They should have used voodoo. No worries, though. I 've done a voodoo curse to make sure this one misses.
 
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