United Nations to Spearhead Asteroid Deflection Plan

I can see it now.....in order to test such a plan we have to attract an asteroid and of course that's the only part of the program that will work. Once the asteroid is hurling toward us we will find out that due to a units problem our ability to deflect said asteroid is impotent and the Earth gets pulverized.

But at least we won't have to worry about global warming any more.

Oh, yee of little faith (and too much humour).

What do you mean? I have plenty of faith that the UN folks will screw it up.

Not true.

Global warming is causing problems throughout the entire solar system:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tU5H1fq6g0

Global warming is causing problems throughout the entire solar system

While that may be true, if we are obliterated by an asteroid, we won't have to worry about global warming anymore.

Right you are!

I was just looking for an excuse to post the video.

...so that member nations the United States will can share its data...

There, FIFY.

Not that I have a problem with the US sharing its data, but let's be real, there aren't many countries doing this kind of work and the US is doing most of it.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how asteroid steering could be weaponised.

A chunk of space rock could be made to take a path of strategic intent just as "easily" as being deflected.

A special interest group could decide that Armageddon was overdue.......

Though your enticement seems well intentioned, it is unnecessary. The US has already committed to participating in this venture.

"The U.N. is planning an "International Asteroid Warning Group" so that member nations can share data about hazardous space rocks and coordinate an interception mission should a scary space rock be identified."

IMO anything more than a few meters across with an orbit that crosses our orbital plane near our semi-major axis is "a scary space rock." The bigger it is, the closer its orbital plane and orbital period is to ours; the scarier the rock.

A cooperative direction in space applications development focused on asteroid deflection would be a better way of investing our collective technical resource and talent than the status quo of directing it based on political/military polarization.

A simple Electromagnetic Dipole Propulsion (EDP) scheme transcends the limits inherent to processes requiring fuel action mass for orientation and deflection. In an EDP process, the total energy imparted becomes a function of the EMF and total electrical power made available for the drive system.

Simple Dipole Electromagnetic Propulsion simplifies both axial orientation and deflection by using the inherent properties of simple magnetic dipole interaction to stop the rotation of the target body and to impart a deflection force near perpendicular to the orbital velocity of the object. This method would appear especially well adapted to low angle inclination orbits.

The argument that the relationships of magnetic force to the distance between the action dipoles preclude sufficient action force is countered by the relationship of force to circuit current and coil design, the effects of superconductivity on circuit current, and the significant value of Sun field at the range of action.

http://cr4.globalspec.com/comment/920537