From: "T. R." (jcharles@por44tage.net)
Subject: Space1999: Fw: [Visitations] Asteroid To Near Earth in 2028
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 14:41:07 -0600
> From: Visitations (visitations@skip44net.com)
> To: visitations@skipnet.com
> Subject: [Visitations] Asteroid To Near Earth in 2028
> Date: March 12, 1998 1:59 PM
>
> Asteroid To Near Earth in 2028
>
> Filed at 1:30 a.m. EST
>
> By The Associated Press
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's not time to panic, but Earthlings need to keep
> an eye on a mile-wide asteroid that will zip very close to the Earth in
> 30 years and could even smash into the planet, causing widespread
> destruction, astronomers say.
>
> Tentative calculations are that the asteroid, called 1997 XF11, will
> pass within about 26,000 miles of the Earth's center in October 2028,
> and experts warn that there is a chance it could actually impact. Such
> a hit would release energy equal to thousands of atomic bombs.
>
> "It will come extremely close," said Brian Marsden of the International
> Astronomical Union, which issued an asteroid alert Wednesday. "The
> chances of impact are very small, but not impossible. We've not had a
> case like this before."
>
> The IAU has identified 108 asteroids that orbit close enough to Earth
> to be called "potentially hazardous objects," said Marsden, but
> astronomers have never seen an object this big moving on a path that
> would carry it so close to the Earth.
>
> "It is not the kind of situation where people should be worried as
> yet," said Marsden. "If it was only a few months away, we should be
> deadly worried. But with 30 years, astronomers will solve the problem."
>
> That might mean a rocket carrying an atomic explosive could be sent to
> the asteroid and detonated on its rocky surface. This would nudge the
> asteroid into an orbit that misses Earth.
>
> The asteroid was discovered in December, and repeated observations
> since have steadily refined the projected orbital path of the speeding
> space rock. Marsden said his latest calculation was based on photos
> taken by the University of Texas observatory last week.
>
> News of the Earth-approaching asteroid quickly captured the attention
> of astronomers.
>
> "This is the first really big one to pass this close," said Jack G.
> Hills, a Los Alamos National Laboratory asteroid specialist. "This is
> the most dangerous one we've found so far."
>
> He added: "It scares me. It really does. An object this big hitting the
> Earth has the potential of killing many, many people."
>
> "It has enormous destructive potential," agreed Steven Maran of the
> American Astronomical Society.
>
> Marsden said astronomers may be able to precisely define the risk posed
> by the asteroid by studying old astronomy photos in which it might
> appear. If that fails, he said the asteroid will pass within 6 million
> miles of Earth in 2002, close enough to be tracked by radar.
>
> With that data, he said, the path of the asteroid will be determined to
> within about 1,000 miles.
>
> Asteroids are routinely observed and plotted by astronomers around the
> world because of their potential for great destruction on Earth.
>
> An asteroid 6 miles to 10 miles across collided with the Earth about 65
> million years ago and is thought to have caused the extinction of the
> dinosaurs, along with 75 percent of all other species.
>
> Hills said an asteroid the size of 1997 XF11 colliding with the Earth
> at more than 17,000 mph would explode with an energy of about 320,000
> megatons of dynamite. That equals almost 2 million Hiroshima-sized
> atomic bombs.
>
> Such an asteroid hitting the ocean, Hills said, would create a tidal
> wave hundreds of feet high, causing extreme flooding along thousands of
> miles of coast line.
>
> "If one like this hit in the Atlantic Ocean, all of the coastal cities
> would be scoured by the tsunami," said Hills. "Where cities stood,
> there would be only mudflats."
>
> If such an asteroid hit land, he said, it would instantly dig a crater
> 20 miles across and so clog the sky with dust and vapor that the sun
> would be darkened "for weeks, if not months."
>
> Marsden said his calculations of the asteroid's path have a margin of
> error of about 180,000 miles, plus or minus, but he believes a pass
> within 30,000 miles of the Earth's center was the most likely, based on
> the current observations. He said the closest approach would come at
> about 1:30 p.m. EST on Oct. 26, 2028.
>
> He said it is "almost a certainty" that the space rock will speed by
> inside the orbit of the moon, which is about 250,000 miles away. Since
> Europe will be in darkness as the asteroid speeds by, Marsden said "it
> should be a splendid sight."
>
> The asteroid is in an independent orbit of the sun and swings past the
> Earth's orbit about every two years. It is now passing toward the sun's
> horizon and will be out of view soon. Marsden said the asteroid will be
> only faintly seen in 2000, but on Halloween 2002 it should be easily
> viewed with "quite modest telescopes."
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 20:29:50 -0500
From: Patricia Embury (Patriemb@sprint44mail.com)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Fw: [Visitations] Asteroid To Near Earth in 2028
Today, NASA is saying it won't hit. Considering I'll be eligible for
retirement and/or Social Security, I'm sure it will impact on either the day
of my retirement, or the day I take off to Florida! :)
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 20:51:41 -0500 (EST)
From: "Ellen C. Lindow" (sfdxb@scfn-thpl-lib-fl-us)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Fw: [Visitations] Asteroid To Near Earth in 2028
Hey, Pat!
Come visit me in Florida _before_ any asteroids hit, unless you plan to
bring a snorkel. We're still rowing places from El Nino. An asteroid
will make us _all_ reef fodder. I'm headed for Colorado when the big one
hits. E
From: "Mike" (jcharles@por44tage.net)
Subject: Re: Space1999: Fw: [Visitations] Asteroid To Near Earth in 2028
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 20:08:16 -0600
Hello all,
I am so sorry for sending that letter to the mailing list.
I didn't plan on doing that, I had accidentally forwarded
it to mailing list.
Sorry,
Mike Beaulieu
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 15:01:00 -0500
Subject: NASA finds water on the moon
From: MIKE GRYG0
March 6, 1998.
AMERICANS COULD BE LIVING ON A LUNAR BASE
WITHIN A DECADE, SCIENTIST CLAIMS.
by Paul Recer, AP science writer
WASHINGT0N- Because of the discovery of water on the
moon, Americans could be living in a permanent lunar
base - the first outpost beyond the Earth - in as little as
a decade, a NASA scientist says.
The space agency announced Thursday that an orbiting
robot craft has discovered there may be enough water on
the moon to one day support a human colony there and to
use the lunar base as a rocket fueling station for exploration
into deep space.
"This means that human life could expand to the moon,"
said a jubilant Alan Binder, lead scientist for the Lunar
Prospector spacecraft.
With water available, he said, it would be possible to
start building a moon base in eight to 10 years and have
a partially self-supporting colony within 15 years.
"We could do it even faster if we pushed it," Binder told
reporters. The water is now available and the technology
can be developed, he said, but there would have to be a
national decision to tackle the project.
Binder and other scientists said Lunar Prospector had
found evidence of frozen underground pools in the dark,
cold shade of deep craters at the lunar poles.
"We are certain there is water there," said Binder.
"We think we are seeing between 10 million and 100 million
tons of water"
Although the water is frozen and mixed with lunar soil,
Binder said it would be easy to convert it to liquid water
that could be used to make rocket propellant and breathing
oxygen.
"For the first time, we may be able to go to another space
body and fuel up," said Binder.
Preliminary estimates indicate that the moon holds
enough water, in widely separated deposits, to fill a lake
2 miles square and 35 feet deep, Binder said. But he
cautioned that the amount of water still was just a
rough estimate.
The Lunar Prospector, a $65 million robot craft, was
launched in January and has spent the past seven weeks
orbiting the moon and taking readings of the moon's
surface with radar and other instruments.
Water was discovered by an instrument that measures
the speed at which neutrons, a type of subatomic particle,
bounce off materials on and near the lunar surface. The
neutrons come from natural cosmic rays that constantly
smash into the moon. They are slowed when they strike
atoms of hydrogen, the chemical that combines with
oxygen to make water.
Slowing of the neutrons leaves a "water signature" in
the neutron-measuring instrument.
William Feldman, an Energy Department scientist and
one of the original inventors of spacefaring neutron
detectors, said the conclusions about water were based on
a month's worth of data and should be called "preliminary."
But he said it was quite clear there were dense deposits
of hydrogen atoms at the lunar poles. From this, he
believed "the evidence of water ice is quite strong."
"There are a bunch of craters filled up with water ice,"
said Feldman. "This is a significant resource that will
allow a modest amount of colonization" for many years.
Scientists will get a better idea of how much water is on
the moon and where it is deposited as the Lunar Prospector
continues its orbital exploration. The spacecraft will collect
data for at least another year. Toward the end of its
mission, it will be lowered from its current 60-mile orbit to
about 6 miles, giving scientists a close-up look at possible
water deposits.
But scientists will not be able to confirm that the
hydrogen atoms detected by the spacecraft are actually
locked in water, and not in some exotic ice or rock deposit,
until a sample of the material is scooped up and analyzed.
"The presence of water is a logical conclusion, but it
is a leap of faith," Binder said. "We will have to sample it
before we really know for sure."
Feldman said "water is the most stable form of
hydrogen" and the most likely form to be on the moon.
The agency has no immediate plans to make a moon
landing. But Lewis Peach, a National Aeronautics and
Space Administration executive, said the agency has long-
range goals that includes landings on both the moon
and Mars.
The agency wants to learn how to exploit extraterrestrial
resources, such as the moon's water and the carbon dioxide
in Mar's atmosphere, to make the exploration cheaper
and faster.
Water could be freed from the soil simply by allowing it
to heat, said Binder. The water would turn to vapor and
then distilled into a liquid.