Asteroid Abduction
The Space Program – A Modest Proposal, Paul Spudis
“I’m at a loss to explain why one aspect of the ARM mission hasn’t been discussed in the media: seeing that advocates of the ARM think nothing about re-arranging the architecture of the Solar System for their convenience, environmental activists might object to the very idea behind the mission. We can’t get to a near-Earth asteroid with the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), so let’s just drag the asteroid to us! Imagine a defenseless rock, innocently tumbling its way through space, only to be snagged, bagged, and defiled appropriated and exploited by arrogant, human interlopers. There ought to be a law!”
While his plan to return all meteorites back into space is a worthy task for SLS, I think we must be careful. The meteorites need to be collected from museums and the wild in small amounts from broad geographical regions.
If too many are collected from a single region and piled up in Florida, there may develop a serious asymmetry in the Earth’s mass distribution. And when the meteors are boosted from the planet, the globe may then try to roll back to an equilibrium position. Tsunamis would be the least of our problems.
Subjecting defenseless meteorites to the risks of an SLS launch seems inhumane. And in fact let’s not forget that these former meteoroids came here on their own free will, you might even think of them as space “refugees”. To toss them back out into the wilds of space doesn’t seem very welcoming. If anything I think they should be placed back where they were found in the exact same spot where they landed.
Also if there are concerns about asteroids being “kidnapped” from wherever they were happily living in space, I guess this also pretty much eliminates the science of geology here on Earth. After all what right does a geologist have to pick up a defenseless rock which is sitting peacefully on the ground somewhere, and taking it back to their lab or putting it in a museum to be gawked at by self-superior humans. Or even worse using a pick-axe to violently dislodge a piece of rock from its mother rock. Talk about a crime! Unless Earth rocks are less important than space rocks? If they are only worried about space rocks isn’t that being discriminatory?
What I find particularly uncivilized and cruel is dissolving minerals in acid!
I guess at least it is in the cause of gaining knowlege.
What could be the justification for a week in an abrasive filled rock-tumbler just to make polished stones for jewelry??
Oh, the humanity!
Typical Hollywood liberal apologists. What about the victims of the Chelyabinsk attack, do they not have rights? How many Earth-crossing asteroids are out there right now that we don’t even know about?
This article is an insult to the men and women of NASA defending our planet from these rocks (and yes, I use that word.)
Yes, this is not the time for being politically correct!
I say that the next time a meteor shower threatens, we launch every freaking nuke on earth into near space and detonate them in a continuous wave of atomic fire. We need to show that our borders are not be trifled with.
I saw that Clint Eastwood movie American Geologist. You know the only thing wrong with that movie? Not enough geology…
Yeah, even Clint gets caught between a rock and a hard place.
Whilst I think of something to say I will just put some rock music on.
Geophobia. It’s a crime.
At some point the People for the Ethical Treatment of Asteroids [PETA] will hear about the project and start printing Tee Shirts.
Hopefully not stone-washed!
The Half-Asteroid Mission….. 😉
I saw a funny comment the other day.
“If the US had really faked the moon landing, by now we would have faked something better.” 😉