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Fawghawn L Hawn say: we need to see the thing much farther out than we can at present
odds have increased due to recent meteor flyovers in western US,one that scared the crap out of siberian city of chelyabinsk, siberian area of vanavara in 1908,they are out there,far away relatively,but vary from moonsize down to sand sized grains, siberia,they think was hit by a 40 meter rock at a 30 degree angle just a 50 footer, hitting the atmosphere at 30k mph,caused the damage of a couple a bombs,chelyabinsk was hit by a 20m space rock, both blew up way before hitting ground
a vid of the last siberian event showed some kind of object ( ufo) hitting the thing head on,breaking up the asteroid as it passed through the middle.closing speed? 40-50 k mph??? maybe someone was watching out for poor helpless siberian residents
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Raymond say: No.
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tham153 say: yes if we define adequate as 20 years or more
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quantumclaustrophobe say: Right now... no.
We have done no tests or experiments with deflecting an asteroid - large or small. We don't have the boosters available to even attempt a rendezvous - although a few space probes have visited asteroids in the past.
Given enough warning (read that as: identifying the threat, coming up with a solution, and putting the solution into practice) - we probably *could*, but I would guess we'd need 25 to 40 years lead time for a rock 1/2 mile wide. And, more time for a larger rock.
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Nyx say: No need to destroy something like that. Just speed it up, or slow it down - by just a little bit.
http://www.universetoday.com/75816/how-t...
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Ronald 7 say: The best we could honestly do is go up and F4rt on it.
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Gary B say: NO.
We DO NOT haev nukes that work in sapce.
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Michael say: NO. NASA'S Hubble Telescope can see it at a large distance. Mike
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Knowan say: Depends on what you mean by "adequate" The easiest method would be to send something up near the asteroid and allow its gravity (or alternatively an explosion or impact) to alter the asteroid's trajectory just enough that it misses the Earth. On paper, so long as the spacecraft is ready you'd need about 2 months warning for a "dinosaur killer" asteroid. The more advanced warning that you have, the easier it is to deflect, as a small change early on will result in large changes later. Think of a marble rolling down an incline. If it bumps against something at the top of the incline and deflects it'll go much wider than if it bumps against something near the bottom of the incline.