We are going back to the moon in 2020 and hoping to have an inhabitable space station by 2024. In 2028 an asteroid is supposed to come very close to the earth. If it changes course it could collide with it. Is this an attempt to prevent the extinction of humanity? It's odd that we have such an interest in the moon after 40 years. It would only take a dozen or two dozen humans on the moon to keep humankind alive.
2006-12-20 05:58:01 · 9 answers · asked by stlouisrams1974 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Asteroids pass within cosmically close distances of the earth every few years. If people freaked out every time such a thing happened, our ancestors would never have ventured from their caves.
Catastropic hits have indeed happened, such as the one around 65 million years ago, but they're sufficiently uncommon that sensible people don't lie awake nights worrying about them. The only ones who do are the sort of people who fear that their friends are coming to kill them ... with guns ... tonight!
If you think about it, the timing of the long overdue lunar mission probably has more to do with the Chinese space program. There's never much of a hurry to get to the moon if no one else seems interested in going. Once somebody else starts a program, however ... well, shall we not say that our government does not want our descendants looking in an almanac in which it reads that the official language of the Moon is Chinese.
2006-12-20 07:20:10 · answer #1 · answered by Anne Marie 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
All this speculation about asteroids colliding with the Earth are largely speculative and sensational. As if you and a neighbor three blocks away fired a BB gun into the air at the same time -- the chance of the BBs hitting each other. It's a very big universe out there and the solid masses are very few and far between.
2006-12-20 06:42:31 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
No. Any people living at the proposed Moon base will be totally dependent on regular delivery of supplies from Earth. If all life on Earth were destroyed, the people on the Moon would soon run out of supplies and die.
I think the renewed interest has more to do with China and other countries making an effort to go there.
2006-12-20 07:46:18 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
i have study it and considered a Discovery television application about it. The ugly answer is that with an results of that length it received't count which fringe of the Earth it hits. each and everything - you, me, our pets, Wal-mart, et al., will be lengthy gone. there's a plan to launch a satellite tv for pc geared up with image voltaic creditors - like image voltaic panels to generate electrical energy - and, by skill of hardware and computers, convey mutually, concentration, concentration, and redirect the potential onto this rock. The desire is this potential will reason the rock to develop into out of stability and it truly is personal rotating will reason it to flow astray and omit us. technology has been incorrect contained in the previous and, regrettably, historic consequences equate to destiny funds invested. Sorry, yet you requested.
2016-11-27 23:16:59 · answer #4 · answered by money 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. It's all politics. The asteroid has zero probability of hitting the earth and if it had a chance of hitting the earth, why not the moon or both ? Here's the info --
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/98/asteroid.html
2006-12-20 06:02:10 · answer #5 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
no!!!!it's not like that.....interest in moon has a long history..but in recent times the objectives of moon missions have changed..........Most space agencies are busy scanning the moon surface and making a full 3-D geographical simulation .This will help in understanding the lunar surface in a more beeter way.......The idea is that if we can set up an station at moon it can b used as the stop and replenishment centre for future Mars missions........Recently SARS have been send to moon to scan the terrain..in coming years india will send a moon mission which will b known as "CHANDRAYAN-I"...THE MISSION MODULE WILL CONTAIN INDIA ANALYSING TOOLS..us SYSNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR AND SOME INSTRUMENTS PROVIDED BY EUROPEAN UNION!!!!!
the use of sysnthetic aperture radar will give superb view of moon terrain and wil help us to better understand the distribution of minerals on moons surface!!!!!!!
2006-12-20 06:10:05 · answer #6 · answered by Rakesh M 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Eugene is correct. The asteroid is close only in a cosmic sense. It will pass without you or I noticing.
2006-12-20 06:05:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
maybe who knows what caused it actually
2006-12-20 06:01:38 · answer #8 · answered by Jamie G 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope...nothing to do with it at all.
2006-12-21 12:15:26 · answer #9 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋