ASTEROIDS...a big threat...ways to avoid impact???

As ateroid is proved b a biggest threat to humans n other species on earth ....it has shown its devastation in past for many times on earth...so has made extinction of many other species..will that happen to us??..U.S n many other nations has come up to to get ready for avoiding such collisions in our future..many spce researcher says next collision can possibly take place in the year 2028 dec.16 n many such speculation r being made for deep impact....wat r the ways in wat we can deal wid the asteroid which is heading towards earth...any nuclear explosion or try changing its way by some shuttle rockets,probes..or etc. etc.

how can we survive the big chunk of rock

its difficult 2 stop a asteroid heading 2wards earth at a rate which cld help even raze human species frm this planet. but the idea bein proposed by many scientists is tht by capturing a passing by asteroid we can launch it on the asteroid cuming 2wards any time we want but its not easy as easily thought. but with the the present tehnology its quite difficult 2 save our arse frm a asteroid.

We have about 27 year window now before a possible impact by Apophis, and a real understanding on the threat in about 20 years.

Probably the leading figure in coming up with a solution for mitigating an asteroid threat is former astronaut Rusty Schweickart. He and a number of other former astronauts and scientists have formed the "B612 Foundation" http://www.b612foundation.org . Its goal is to "Significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner by 2015."

The leading concept right now seems to be a "gravitational tractor" for towing an asteroid into a slightly different orbit. Basically, put a probe on one side of the asteroid to gently alter its orbit in that direction. Some sustainable long-term electric propulsion (e.g., ion engine) is needed for station-keeping of the probe vs the asteroid.

is it possible to hit the asteroid with a rocket??
thats a lame idea..
if its a good one i have no problem with it...
will the missile be that precsice....
They are not trying to hit the asteroid or anything like "shoot it down". This is a rendezvous like several asteroid and comet rendezvous operations which have been done so far.

Getting there is not an issue. It's the long-term station-keeping to influence the trajectory that concerns me. Small-scale electric propulsion for station-keeping is in use today, but I think this needs to be a bit larger.

Impact on both years ruled out on precise data!
Collision with Earth is ruled out based on precise calculations, there's no element of uncertainty... Disappointing!

1/45000 is a negligible probability fraction? hmmm...

Pushing an asteroid

"Pushing" can be complicated by the spin of the asteroid on it's axes(perhaps a spin on all 3 axes).

Also no one has made a "soft landing" on a low-gravity object, correct? Will that be a challenge too? Ion propulsion is not known for brute force and known for "staying power". And that makes soft landing of the high speed rocket on an asteroid tricky?

I assumed you need to land a rocket on the asteroid to start "pushing".

Just a quick note right now... I was referring to commercial mining. Alternatively, I've heard of towing an asteroid to the vicinity of a human colony, and extracting water ice. At this comes from the presentation by Jim Benson; so I have no links for this one.

The "lasso" idea... well, that's mine. There is no need for two spacecraft. But there is a need for very good software that doesn't suffer from vertigo.

There may be other solutions for de-spinning. In fact (he said facetiously), how about 'lasso-ing' the asteroid and letting the chord zip through an electric generator. heh heh.

Commercialization of space in the future
Towing an asteroid actually sounds feasible with today's technology if the asteroid is really small(a few tens of meters across).

--> "...and extracting water ice" - What's the reason for extracting water ice? Don't we have enough of that stuff available on earth already?

Will Mining of minerals be profitable to cover the costs of towing? The composition of asteroids does not include precious/rare elements

--> http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/asteroids/composition.shtml

What about asteroid-mining-rights? Finders keepers i guess... Just grab an unsuspecting asteroid, slip it in your pocket and act cool

Future commercialization of space is another vast topic isn't it? That seems seems to be the passion of this man, Jim Benson. How does he see himself? A "space capitalist"?

--> how about 'lasso-ing' the asteroid and letting the chord zip through an electric generator - A space 'stun gun' to electrify and paralyze the asteroid from de-spinning? Anesthetics might be simpler though

shift the keyhole
simpler way which always happens naturally is to to shift the keyhole by creating a gravitational field in orientation so that the earth is not on the path of collision many times asteroids are on the path to earth but distracted due to gravitational field of Jupiter and thus end up finally colliding upon it.

using newtons law according to size of asteroid we can also calculate the minimum mass to be placed at maximum distance from it on its path to achieve maximum diversion . space being to gr8 extent frictionless arena rather than force momentum is the thing which need to be conserved essentially

"What's the reason for extracting water ice? Don't we have enough of that stuff available on earth already?"

It's actually meant for a human colony somewhere other than Earth. Perhaps it won't even be needed on Mars.

"What about asteroid-mining-rights? Finders keepers i guess... Just grab an unsuspecting asteroid, slip it in your pocket and act cool"

Ah yes... prospectors out to make their fortune. What happens to your rights when you're out beyond the quick reach of the law? There was this TV series called "Firefly" and ... oh nevermind; we're going to digress too far.

I believe Jim Benson's background is geology. That might explain his interest in mining.

As for the space stun gun... In the right circumstances, lasso-ing can also be used to pull someone's leg. But I was actually serious , except for the electric generator part.

As we've seen in 1994, impacts of celestial bodies are a real possibility. We got no ways to prevent these kind of events, because we simply don't know the orbits of major of the asteroids and other bodies. We would know about a possible impact only a few days before it happened. NASA and other agencies have programs to research the celestial bodies who are in our vicinity, and could reach our planet. But it's not enough to avoid a possible catastrophic event.

1994? Oh. You mean this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Shoemaker-Levy_9