Asteroid Could Strike Mars in Early 2008

Discussion in 'Pseudoscience Archive' started by kmguru, Dec 22, 2007.

  1. kmguru Staff Member

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    Asteroid Could Strike Mars in Early 2008
    By VOA News
    22 December 2007

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    Planet Mars
    A group of U.S. astronomers say there is a chance an asteroid could hit the planet Mars by the end of next month.

    Stargazers in Arizona discovered a 50-meter wide asteroid in November that was designated "2007 WD5." Astronomers at the U.S. space agency NASA's Near-Earth Object Office are tracking the object and say it may pass within 48,000 kilometers of Mars by January 30.

    The astronomers say there is a one-in-75 chance the asteroid will strike the planet on that day. The asteroid is compared to a similar object that struck Siberia in 1908 with the energy of a three-megaton bomb and destroyed tens of millions of trees.

    NASA officials say if the asteroid does hit Mars, it will do so near the location of its Opportunity rover, which has been exploring the Martian surface for three years.
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    Pseudospeculation: What if some one is warning us not to go there a la Jack McDevitt SF books...would not that be interesting....

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  3. USS Exeter unamerican american Registered Senior Member

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    To answer your question, yes, it could hit Mars in 2008.
     
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  5. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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  7. USS Exeter unamerican american Registered Senior Member

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    I was going to say the same thing.
     
  8. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    Why is this in pseudo? It's an interesting possibility. I just read about it in Astronomy and Scientific American and on NASA's website. What gives?
     
  9. kmguru Staff Member

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    Because of the speculation that the big brother is watching and does not want us messing up Mars with our Rover....

    While the science side can talk about what is happening, here we can talk about action, reaction and other crazy and fun stuff. If you do not want to have fun, go away....

    And, please do not attack saying that is not science...you are correct because it is pseudoscience (the fun part...). Keep the two lives separate...please....
     
  10. (Q) Encephaloid Martini Valued Senior Member

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    I did not move this thread, but I believe the personal statement of the OP is the reason it was moved.
     
  11. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    Oh. Right.
     
  12. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    Or like in Larry Niven's Protector. When "Vandervecken" plops an ice asteroid down on mars to kill off the martians.
     
  13. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    We'll Circa January 30th 2008 we can either decide this thread is suppose to be pseudoscience or a factual event. If it does of course happen it's a far better way for a martian rover to go rather than being smashed up by a Transformer.
     
  14. invert_nexus Ze do caixao Valued Senior Member

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    Niven must have a hardon for asteroids. He did the same thing in Footfall. A species of elephant-like aliens attacked the Earth and as a last resort caused an asteroid (or maybe a comet) to crash to Earth. It symbolized their physical combats where the victor would ceremoniously place his foot on the chest of the defeated.
     
  15. dinokg Registered Senior Member

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    I have 2 thoughts on this:

    #1. If this asteroid actually hits one of our rovers(which has such a VERY low probability) then there very well could be some "outside" influence.

    #2. If this asteroid simply hits Mars it will still be extremely important. It will be the first time people have seen an asteroid hit another planet while there is a human presence(even if only present in the 3rd person with the rovers). Also it is the first time humans have seen an asteroid hit a rocky Earth like planet(Jupiter is to gaseous to count).Plus since Mars has a very weak atmosphere the asteroid will most likely hit the ground instead of blowing up like a similar sized object would do on Earth.

    Additionally Mars has 1/3 of Earths gravity so if it can be hit by this then Earth should be almost 3 times as likely to be hit by similar objects(minus the large number that already hit Earth in the distant past).
     
  16. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    Yep. And there's Lucifers Hammer...
     
  17. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    It's an actual prediction by NASA scientists.

    It would be a good thing to wait until after an asteroid impact to work on colonizing Mars. I don't know if somehow we have had preternatural good luck in this, because it is actually quite plausible that we could have had one there already.
     
  18. MetaKron Registered Senior Member

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    Actually, in Footfall they announced themselves like a no-knock warrant. They STARTED with an asteroid impact.
     
  19. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I thought it was Mars that was running into the asteroid.

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  20. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    Everything's relative...
     
  21. Myles Registered Senior Member

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    Will mars be red shifting ?
     
  22. superluminal I am MalcomR Valued Senior Member

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    Ha!

    No. It'll be turning a nice shade of blue.
     
  23. John99 Banned Banned

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    Why don't we bring Mars to us?

    Instead of going there couldn't we push it closer and take it's resources then push it back?
     

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