Killjoys at NASA cancel Doomsday

[james_davis_nicoll]

"Using updated information, NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a large asteroid. The refined path indicates a significantly reduced likelihood of a hazardous encounter with Earth in 2036."

Fools! Have they never read those books where by creating some false crisis, the steely-eyed rocket men get the money to properly develop manned (and girled) spaceflight for the betterment of Man?

Comments

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Is it too late to deceive the authorities into setting up a wild-eyed scheme to steer the asteroid into medium-to-high Earth orbit so that we can mine the Hell out of that sucker?

[thesaucernews.livejournal.com]

I had an idea somewhere in the pile in which they essentially tossed the asteroids into Earth, let them hit the ocean or somewhere reasonably inpopulous, and mined them terrestrially because it would be cheaper than building the infrastructure to mine them in space. This scenario presents some minor issues of its own, however.

[derekl1963.livejournal.com]

"This scenario presents some minor issues of its own, however."

Minor ones... Like any asteroid of mineable size being large enough to wipe out all life on earth - regardless of where it lands.

:)

[thesaucernews.livejournal.com]

yeah... plot scenarios were pretty limited with that one.

[http://users.livejournal.com/krin_o_o_/]

I recall something of a story where they diverted the planet killer comet into the moon, giving the moon a short lived (few hundred years worth) atmosphere and water, thus making it colonizable.

But for the life of me I can't remember the source!

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Does this look familiar? (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/michael-mccollum/thunderstrike.htm)

[tandw.livejournal.com]

Those are some choice cover blurbs, there.

[wyjoe.livejournal.com]

Can you say mega-tsunami? I knew you could.

[thesaucernews.livejournal.com]

Pish. That'll all blow over eventually.

[thesaucernews.livejournal.com]

In the meanwhile, iridium for everybody (left)!

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't that eliminate the main advantage of asteroid-mined materials, namely that they are already in space, thus reducing the cost of getting them there? Mining asteroids for terrestrial applications seems unlikely to be all that cost-effective unless you are living in the Iron Age and some pieces of one already happen to have fallen conveniently nearby.

[thesaucernews.livejournal.com]

I hadn't considered that as the primary purpose of asteroid mining at the time -- but yeah.

[yorksranter.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

James once said that the business model for asteroid mining was that you diverted a smallish metallic asteroid into a lithobraking orbit, and then you took money in exchange for not doing it again.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Until James Bond busts into your hollow volcano with a bunch of ninjas.