Mar09
The Comet threat to Mars + Stopping a comet heading for Earth + 2013 Planetary Defense Conference
on March 9, 2013 at 6:54 amPosted In: In Space Infrastructure, Solar Science
Alan Boyle writes about the possibility that Comet 2013 A1 (aka Comet Siding Spring) might hit Mars and how this might affect attitudes on earth about the threat of comet and asteroid impacts on earth: ‘Marsageddon’ comet scenario adds to concerns about threats from space – Cosmic Log.
He also discusses the writeup – Warning Shots – Space Access Update #130 – 3/4/13, by Henry Vanderbilt of the Space Access Society, on whether we could prevent such a cometary hit if we only had two years of warning.
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Michale Belfiore points to the 2013 IAA Planetary Defense Conference, 15-19 April, 2013 in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, where such issues will be discussed: Planetary Defense Conference 2013 – Michael Belfiore.
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The short answer, by the way, is “Maybe”. We have, just barely, the technical capability to package enough energy and deliver it to the inbound comet in that timeframe.
Mind, the political/organizational issues might kill us before we ever got a chance to find out whether we could successfully apply that energy to divert such a comet.
Lots of “ifs” involved. But a slim chance is better than no chance, and we’ll be talking about affordable ways to improve the odds at the Space Access Conference next month.