Now if “nuclear power” is on the table then it might be wise to combine exploration with NEO mitigation. Indeed and this is a sincere question, what if we were able to develop a CASIMR like system that might be hooked to an asteroid? Would it be helpful? What would be the power requirement for such a system to work vs time when we know of the threat?

I know nothing, or not enough, of orbital mechanics and NEOs and this kind of propulsion to see whether this is feasible. But why not? Anyone?

Before blasting anything we might think of more exotic solutions. If you blast a meteor how will you insure irradiated fragments don’t land on Earth. And what about the size vs the nuclear power necessary to do an effective job. There should be different tiers of response. Not one do it all nonsense a la Constellation.

White House science adviser John Holdren noted that the funding devoted annually to cataloging potentially threatening asteroids has risen from $5 million to more than $20 million over the past couple of years. But even at that level, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden estimated that it would take until 2030 to catalog 90 percent of the near-Earth objects between 140 meters and 1 kilometer in width, as mandated by Congress.

“Maybe we can help you out with the budget. Don’t know,” Smith replied. He said “we need to find ways to prioritize NASA’s projects.”

– – – –

“Holdren estimated the cost of an asteroid-hunting space telescope at $500 million to $750 million, and said it could reduce the congressionally mandated survey time to six to eight years. Following through on the Obama administration’s plan to send astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025 would cost about $2 billion a year, Holdren said.”

– – – –

“Lawmakers repeatedly asked how much advance warning would be required to deflect a threatening asteroid, and were repeatedly told that it would take years. Shelton said that if time was limited, “probably nuclear energy is what we’re talking about.” But even a nuclear-armed mission to blast an asteroid would require lots of lead time. One lawmaker asked Bolden about the strategy for dealing with an Earth-threatening asteroid that was discovered with three weeks’ warning.

“If it’s coming in three weeks … pray,” Bolden said.“

But since we are talking threats I thought I would say that the great inquisitor struck again (http://nasawatch.com/archives/2013/03/wolf-press-conf.html).

Not that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty which so 18th Century. Who the eff cares?

No. I think we should all blame NASA and shut down the centers especially in light that the system worked, or may have worked, even though we don’t know since well there’s been no trial yet.

But there obviously are serious security breaches at NASA. We must, you know, cry… wolf, just in case. And if possible ruin one’s life even though there only is allegation at this time.

Sorry Jeff off-topic but still a threat to our country. It’s just that the threat is not necessarily the one coming from the heavens.

What is the definition of insanity?
Doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting a different outcome.

In any case, one more time:

While the asteroid impact hazard is pretty small,
the comet and comet fragment impact hazard is significant.

As the whole of this is one of the most sordid and disusting stories in the history of science, I am hoping that the derma will finally stop.

I like your optimism but I will not even give them the benefit of the doubt.

My suspicion is more like some staff said “hey people we have an empty time slot any idea what we might do?”.

So then they all retreated to one expensive DC restaurant with SPA, fed on an obnoxiously expensive meal with tax-payer dollars. Some even got a massage at the SPA- go figure. And after some well deserved beers and CA wines – after all CA is socialist but they make better wine than TX or AL or FL for that matter, and who would go for a French wine anyway? So as I was saying, after some well deserved drinks and a little buzz in their heads they realized something went kaboom recently. They just could not remember what it was so they called up Bobby Jindal but no, the levees were still up and NOLA was still all destroyed as it should be, so the noise and light show – commonly referred to shock and awe – did not come from over there. Then some young and pretty staff aid, 20-something of course – we all know Congress do all those things they do with legally above-age staffers – so said staffer whose uncle has a friend’s cousin dealing with some russian oil tycoon remembered the recent videos on youtube. Even though at first they all thought it was a re-entering Soyuz. Or Dragon. So anyway. When they all came off their buzz they had signed the paperwork for the hearings. And the credit card bill for the expenses that was rightfully sent to the Las Vegas bureau of the GSA.

Sounds credible? No. More proof? Well it’s just like Hollywood. One studio came up with Deep Impact – the House – so the other major came up with Armageddon – the Senate. They really could not organize something together since there is all these tax-payer’s dollars they need to spend or said dollars would have to be used on reducing deficit and all this nonsensical stuff is already taken care of by sequestration.

Anyway. I hope I am making sense in clarifying the inner workings of the thought process – or lackthereof – of our dear and popular and effective Congress.

Thank you Congress. You in the House and Senate really rock. Which is appropriate considering the subject at hand. You know. Rock…

But to the topic at hand, I don’t expect much out of this hearing, since any “solution” would likely cost big bucks. And since the “problem” wasn’t in our backyard, ignoring it is pretty easy for now. But it is heartening to see that at least they will look into it.

And there probably isn’t that much food there anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g79_ljVC5Wk