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This is actually something that we should be funding. Not trips to Mars, or trips to the moon, or any of the other nonsense that NASA wastes money on. But being prepared in case an asteroid is going to nail this planet - and having the means to shoot it down before it does....makes a lot of sense.
Why would an astronaut be an expert on defending earth from an asteroid? Astronauts are hands-on people who perform experiments, transport cargo, and repair things.
I would trust a professional statistician more. Maybe this guy is knowledgeable but the astronaut cred is strictly for show in this context.
The same way a mathematician is an expert on Climate Change and called a "Climate Science".
THIS is a bigger probability than everyone dying from climate change. We have only looked deep into about 12% of the sky looking for NEO's. We have NO IDEA if there is actually something heading for us or not. IT WILL eventually happen sooner or later.
This is actually something that we should be funding. Not trips to Mars, or trips to the moon, or any of the other nonsense that NASA wastes money on. But being prepared in case an asteroid is going to nail this planet - and having the means to shoot it down before it does....makes a lot of sense.
Geez... the "Beer Man of Pennsylvania" is too practical-minded for space travel? Wouldn't you like to crack a cold one and watch the BFR lift off?
Why would an astronaut be an expert on defending earth from an asteroid? Astronauts are hands-on people who perform experiments, transport cargo, and repair things.
I would trust a professional statistician more. Maybe this guy is knowledgeable but the astronaut cred is strictly for show in this context.
There are two questions:
What is the probability of being impacted by a significantly large space object in the next 1000 years?
Consider that a large asteroid strikes the earth about once every 100 million years.
Is the objective to prevent this from happening actionable or realistic?
Even if we knew that a collision is imminent, the technology to prevent such an impact by changing the course of an object is extremely limited.
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