Wanted: Asteroid Surfer

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth

Nasa evokes Hollywood in effort to avoid catastrophe; mission would bridge gap between Moon and Mars

by David Adam
Friday November 17, 2006

It is the stuff of nightmares and, until now, Hollywood thrillers. A huge asteroid is on a catastrophic collision course with Earth and mankind is poised to go the way of the dinosaurs.

To save the day, Nasa now plans to go where only Bruce Willis has gone before. The US space agency is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling through space at more than 30,000 mph. It wants to know whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect such a doomsday object when it is eventually identified. The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036.

Chris McKay of the Nasa Johnson Space Centre in Houston told the website Space.com: "There's a lot of public resonance with the notion that Nasa ought to be doing something about killer asteroids ... to be able to send serious equipment to an asteroid.

"The public wants us to have mastered the problem of dealing with asteroids. So being able to have astronauts go out there and sort of poke one with a stick would be scientifically valuable as well as demonstrate human capabilities."

Full story here.

Any takers?

 

[Colonel Kira's Left Tit]

Let's send Ben Affleck.

 

[SaintLucifer]

Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth

Nasa evokes Hollywood in effort to avoid catastrophe; mission would bridge gap between Moon and Mars

by David Adam
Friday November 17, 2006

It is the stuff of nightmares and, until now, Hollywood thrillers. A huge asteroid is on a catastrophic collision course with Earth and mankind is poised to go the way of the dinosaurs.

To save the day, Nasa now plans to go where only Bruce Willis has gone before. The US space agency is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling through space at more than 30,000 mph. It wants to know whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect such a doomsday object when it is eventually identified. The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036.

Chris McKay of the Nasa Johnson Space Centre in Houston told the website Space.com: "There's a lot of public resonance with the notion that Nasa ought to be doing something about killer asteroids ... to be able to send serious equipment to an asteroid.

"The public wants us to have mastered the problem of dealing with asteroids. So being able to have astronauts go out there and sort of poke one with a stick would be scientifically valuable as well as demonstrate human capabilities."

Full story here.

Any takers?

Pfft. Why not stick EDNA of Troll Valhalla onto a large elastic band, and fling her into the oncoming asteroid? With girth such as hers, the asteroid would be forced to surrender pronto. NASA must take care to check EDNA's orbit upon her return, lest she smash Earth itself into so many tiny fragments.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

Because some of us have never gone to Troll Valhalla, don't know the members there who aren't here, and could generally care less what goes on there?