The asteroid's chance for hitting Earth on April 13, 2029 has now been categorized as a 4 on the Torino Scale. The level 4 rating -- never before issued -- is reserved for "events meriting concern" versus the vast majority of potentially threatening asteroids that merely merit "careful monitoring."
2006-12-07 14:29:57 · 13 answers · asked by Karuma 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Yes. NASA is currently designing a giant "STOP" sign to be placed into low earth orbit.
This asteroid (99942 Apophis) has been downgraded to a Torino Scale value of 0 with recent observations.
2006-12-07 14:41:22 · answer #1 · answered by Keith P 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We actually do have the technology to stop an asteroid, well not stop it, but change it's speed just enough to make it miss. Both NASA and the Japanese have landed probes on asteroids. This means it is now possible to attache a thrusting device to an asteroid. If this is done long enough before impact, just slowing the asteroid down by a fraction of a percent can mean the difference between hit and miss.
2006-12-07 15:42:20 · answer #2 · answered by ZeedoT 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're going to send a bunch of men up to the asteroid with some huge drilling machines and a bomb. They'll drill a big hole through the asteroid somehow where the laws of Physics don't apply, but then they run into a problem where the bomb can't be remotely detonated so one person has to stay behind and sacrifice himself. He will push the button at exactly the right time, not a moment before and not a moment after, blow the asteroid up into two pieces and each piece will barely miss the Earth.
Oh wait.....that was a crappy movie.
Yeah we're gonna die.
2006-12-07 15:40:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, NASA's secret plan is to provide George Bush with a secret hideaway on a new Moon base by 2029 where he will live with all the NASA technicians, well out of the way of the asteroid strike :)
2006-12-07 16:46:52 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the level 4 alert was made in 2004. since then, more careful observations have reduced the actual threat to a level 0 rating for the possible impact dates between 2011 and 2029
2006-12-07 14:38:09 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
for all the people who didnt know, the NASA is currently developing some sort of shield to protect us against the asteroids and hostile extraterrestials so dont worry ok
2006-12-07 16:57:00 · answer #6 · answered by Marco Franco 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NASA can barely get the shuttle off the ground any longer, and always keep in mind:
No one leaves here alive.
Day by day by day
The pathway to dusty death
Signifying nothing
2006-12-07 14:50:03 · answer #7 · answered by mailrick12 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope nothing is going to stop it they're disbanding the shuttle program so they can use those small rocket type space ships they used back in the 70s those can't carry something big enough to stop an asteroid
Get ready people its coming HELP US MEN IN BLACK
2006-12-07 14:45:01 · answer #8 · answered by topgunpilot22 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Hopefully!
2006-12-09 02:09:50 · answer #9 · answered by Billy Butthead 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think the USA will do much about it. However, another country will probably send a nuclear bomb to blow it up, to prove to the rest of the world that they can.
Of course that just means we will get hit by hundreds of smaller (but still deadly) asteroids, anyway. it is inevitable you know. If not this one, then another one, another time.
2006-12-07 14:39:23 · answer #10 · answered by Yarnlady_needsyarn 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋