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Mars Under Attack

Bullseye...

From UK Times:

"...Mars is in danger of being struck by an asteroid at the end of next month, astronomers have calculated.
The newly discovered space rock known as 2007 WD5 has a one in 75 chance of colliding with the planet on January 30. While the probability of an impact is only slim, the odds have been cut from one in 350 when the object was first identified, and they are much shorter than is usual for new asteroids.
If 2007 WD5, which is about 100 metres in diameter, does strike Mars on January 30, it would cause an explosion equivalent to several megatonnes of TNT...

So, theres two ways to look at this. First, the natural inclination on some folks part to want to do something to stop it from happening, which is silly on the face of it, despite your best desires, there is no man made technology that will get us to Mars by jan 30th, so its a non-starter.

The second way is to think of it this way. If we were going to spend any money on this issue, it should not me to stop it, it should be to actually see that it happens. What better place to test and observe the effects of an asteriod collision with an inner ring, terran style planet than to have something whack Mars. You want to wait till an asteroid hits us here on the blue/green earth to learn what the cost will be, or do you want to see how this looks in the Nevada of the solar system?

I thought so.

But what about the poor Martian ecology Frank? Screw the Martians, they've been asking for this for a long time. Those green skinned, three fingered, anal probing, fly all the way across the solar system with your landing lights on bastards, I've had it up to here with them...

All kidding aside, I really hope we get to see this happen.

Posted @ December 21, 2007 10:25 AM | Current Affairs

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Posted by: Blogengeezer at January 5, 2008 01:14 PM