99942 Apophis - The actual menace from space

[Bells]

Originally Posted by Megaman FTW

You guys just freak out every time someone mentions a large meteor impacting earth because you're bitter about the fact that the dinosaurs might have been killed by one and you don't get to ride a Tyranosaurus to school.

Its time to stop the hate. Meteors are our friends.

A T-Rex would be like a Porsche. 2 Confortable seats, no space for luggage, a luxurious presentation... plus, fuel consumption is a bitch.

I would rather ride a Stegosaurus... it's more of a "Family" Dino transport, but the extra room in the backseat comes handy with the ladies! Plus, better Mileage!

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Originally Posted by Bells

A T-Rex would be like a Porsche. 2 Confortable seats, no space for luggage, a luxurious presentation... plus, fuel consumption is a bitch.

I would rather ride a Stegosaurus... it's more of a "Family" Dino transport, but the extra room in the backseat comes handy with the ladies! Plus, better Mileage!

Not to mention customized chrome-plated thagomizers!

[stefan]

I kinda think the best option would be to just fly up, bolt some rocket engines on that bitch, and send it on a collision course with the sun. then we never have to deal with it ever ever.

[Mesden]

Don't even have to do that. The thing is the size of a football stadium, right? Send up a shuttle that's a few tons in mass and put it within the same orbit as the asteroid. They have similar gravitational pull so, as they travel, they'll get drawn towards each other (This is because there's no large bodies near them to affect their gravity otherwise.) Attach some retro rockets to the shuttle and have it slowly pull away from the big ass rock and it'll tow the thing away as it tries to drift towards the shuttle. Voila, rock moved out of keyhole.

[Bells]

Originally Posted by Mesden

Don't even have to do that. The thing is the size of a football stadium, right? Send up a shuttle that's a few tons in mass and put it within the same orbit as the asteroid. They have similar gravitational pull so, as they travel, they'll get drawn towards each other (This is because there's no large bodies near them to affect their gravity otherwise.) Attach some retro rockets to the shuttle and have it slowly pull away from the big ass rock and it'll tow the thing away as it tries to drift towards the shuttle. Voila, rock moved out of keyhole.

Not only that is the main game plan right now, it's something you can calculate with precision in a lab doing simulations.

I guess the only problem would be to get the shuttle back after it's mission...

[Tev]

Originally Posted by Bells

I guess the only problem would be to get the shuttle back after it's mission...

Make it a remote control shuttle and program it to land on the moon when it's done. Then we can use it to start our beginings of a lunar base.

[Eltargrim]

Or you could just not worry about recovering it and make it a one-time use thing. We do that often enough that it's not that worrying.

[Wigmund]

Let's have Apophis slam into the Moon. I want some fucking fireworks in the sky and since Betelgeuse isn't likely to go nova anytime soon, an asteroid diverted to strike the Moon's face instead of us is a small consolation prize.

[Bells]

Actually i think people would rather put astronauts in a suicide mission (with their consent) than to put all their bets in remote control.

With Humans on board you can have both. Human control on the scene and remote control in case of need. But if you go 100% remote, any flaw can cause the entire mission to go south, and it's not like you can make one of those shuttles over the week.

[Tev]

Eh, then just make the super-shuttle have a mini-escape shuttle detachment that the heroes can fly home after setting the self destruct and riding the fireball all the way to Earth’s atmosphere.