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| View Poll Results: What should we do about Apophis? | |||
| Nothing - Such is Life |
   
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3 | 23.08% |
| Nothing - We're only likely to make it worse |
  
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2 | 15.38% |
| Alter its orbit to smash it into the Moon |
  
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6 | 46.15% |
| Alter its orbit via Nuclear means |
  
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4 | 30.77% |
| Alter its orbit some other way |
  
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5 | 38.46% |
| Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 13. You may not vote on this poll | |||
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17-November-2005, 02:45 PM
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Apophis - What should we do?
As most of you are probably aware, there is a chance that at some time in the future, possibly 2029, or more likely, at some later date, that the asteroid Apophis will have more than a close encounter with the Earth, in fact a direct hit.
Although it is thought that in 2029 the chances of the asteroid colliding with us are not great, it is quite conceivable that the gravitational perturbations caused on the asteroid as it passes so close to the Earth could induce an orbit for Apophis that eventually winds up with it scoring a direct hit on the surface of the Earth. Most likely somewhere in the oceans I guess, which would mean some incredibly destructive tsunamis. Although Apophis, around 300-400m across, is unlikely by itself to cause enough damage to destroy civilisation, it would likely be the greatest catastrophe that we have ever witnessed if indeed it did strike. Anyway, what should we do about it?
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BugMeNot A portal to bypass free-site registration. "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer - renowned 19th Century German philosopher. 
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17-November-2005, 02:59 PM
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Alter its orbit.
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For those inclined to oppose human meddling with the structure of the universe or the composition and configuration of objects and groups of objects within the universe, consider: Whether there is a limit to the magnitude of a modulation of chaos below which order remains invariant? Or, is order but a fiction invented by perspectives applied over finite, however large, time intervals?
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17-November-2005, 04:38 PM
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As I've suggested elsewhere, use an aerobraking maneuver to bring it into a low earth orbit, for study/mineral exploitaton.
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"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive." - Carl Sagan, 1995
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