Vorl Bek <[email protected]> wrote: And when was the one before that? >
No one knows when the last one was. It might have hit the Pacific. The population was lower. But you are missing the point. Celestial mechanics are highly predictable. The first thing to determine is how many there are and how soon the next one will hit. It looks to me like the chance of earth being hit by a rock that does real > damage is minuscule. > Based on what? Have you measured the positions and trajectories of all potentially harmful meteors? 90% of them? > Why spend billions, or is it trillions, on spaceguard' to > prevent something that will almost certainly never happen? > 1. You cannot know the certainty level. That's what we have to find out. 2. It will cost billions but not trillions. 3. It will certainly create new knowledge and benefit science. It is worth it for that reason alone. 4. It might even evolve into commercially useful space technology. - Jed
