The 'What If' scenario: Asteroid to hit Earth

[CodeRedR51]

So I was thinking about this Saturday night as I sat and watched the Meteor shower, and thought it might make for a good thread. Apologies if this has been posted before. Someone please tell me if this is a stupid topic.

The question:

If it were confirmed today that an Asteroid was headed towards an impact with Earth in 90 days time, what would you do for the next 3 months to prepare?

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As for me: I'm really not sure. Maybe keep working to save money if I could? Get as far away from the impact zone as possible? (depending on it's location)

 

[mattythedog]

Get laid.

Seriously, I don't know what I'd do. If it was a big enough meteorite, then we might not be able to do anything to stop it, so I think I'd enjoy myself, spend time with my family, etc. I just hope it never happens...

 

[GTsail]

The answer would depend upon how big the asteroid/meteorite is.

Civiliation ending, or just local destruction at the impact site?

 

[Stevisiov]

So I was thinking about this Saturday night as I sat and watched the Meteor shower, and thought it might make for a good thread. Apologies if this has been posted before. Someone please tell me if this is a stupid topic.

The question:

If it were confirmed today that an Asteroid was headed towards an impact with Earth in 90 days time, what would you do for the next 3 months to prepare?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for me: I'm really not sure. Maybe keep working to save money if I could? Get as far away from the impact zone as possible? (depending on it's location)

I would probably ignore it like I do with other space debris that hits the earth every single day. In 91 days time everything would likely be the same.

...Oh you mean a giant earth obliterating asteroid??

Well really it all depends on nature of the asteroid, there is not a great deal you can do other than hope for the best, 7bn people can't just tunnel underground. Saving money will do little for you in a near apocalypse scenario. Humans would probably tend towards more primal types of currency e.g violence.

I don't know how quickly a defence mechanism could be mobilised, something that could gradually give it an adequate kick out of our orbit. Since only hypothetical defence strategies exist, its hard to imagine 90 days would be anywhere near sufficient.

 

[carracerptp]

How big is it? Small space rocks hit earth all the time so I wouldn't really make a big deal of it.

Now, if it was big and coming close, I would A: Get as far away as possible, B: Get as far away as possible, and see if my insurance covers asteroid damage ( would that be an act of Leo? )

 

[Danoff]

Assuming it's huge, I might actually get tapped to work on whatever mission the US launches to stop it. If I wasn't here's what I'd do.

Stockpile Ammo and food (canned goods, and water).
Board up my windows (discretely)
Start looking into what I could do to build an underground bunker.

 

[ZohsixGT5]

1) Quit work
2) Buy an F250 4x4 with a trailer
3) Buy a dirt bike and quad
4) Buy lots of guns and ammo
5) Load everything up
5) Drive to the middle of no where in Alabama.
6) Go to walmart for 12 months worth of supplies and ~120 gallons of fuel
7) Drive 45 minutes into the wilderness and make camp
8) Hook up the generator and start playing GT5.

EDIT: **Not to be taken seriously.

 

[wfooshee]

2, 3, and 8 are going to be very quickly useless.

That's based on the assumption that the rest of it doesn't become useless by the fact of you yourself becoming dead in the cataclysm.

I think the OP is really asking a more general question, rather than an asteroid specifically. The asteroid scenario is good for his question because we'll know it's coming.

He's asking what your apocolyptic preparation is. And nobody really has one. After all, they don't call them extinction events for nuthin'!

 

[CodeRedR51]

He's asking what your apocolyptic preparation is.

This.

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

Global extinction event size asteroid: Lots of end of the world sex.

Local disaster size: Move.

 

[AndersonG22]

If an asteroid that could end life as we know it then lets hope are religious president wouldn't just accept it as judgment day.

 

[PeterJB]

Asteroids are by nature not very large, so if it landed more than 20 miles from me, I'd do nothing.

As for Comets, if it was going to cause mass extinction, and we had know way of either destroying or protecting ourselves from it, I would carry on as normal, hoping I was one of the few that survived, whilst also preparing myself for death.

A bit of prayer probably wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Danoff]

Asteroids are by nature not very large, so if it landed more than 20 miles from me, I'd do nothing.

Some of them are quite large. NASA has a spacecraft in orbit around one now.

 

[PeterJB]

Vesta is an exception. It's gigantic compared to the majority, which are no bigger than a house or a car.

 

[QuarterRutger]

Let it explode in space with a nuke,

 

[Exorcet]

Vesta is an exception. It's gigantic compared to the majority, which are no bigger than a house or a car.

There are a lot of them bigger than houses. Asteroids in general are a bit of threat. Luckily they don't hit all that often, at least not often enough to prevent an advanced society from forming.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid#Size_distribution

 

[PeterJB]

Jupiter diverts most of the threatening ones anyway.

 

[photonrider]

More of a game than a current event, but Peter's right about Jupiter. As well, if there's any chance of an asteroid deciding to park itself on us, amateur astronomers the world over will know sooner than later.

If it's going to be sudden impact, I'll just have to go back quickly to practising OBEs. (Though I might not have a body to get back into. )

 

[ExigeEvan]

I'd go stand next to Famine. I figure he'll be the "blackbox" of civilisation should the worst happen.

And they always find the blackbox, right?

 

[Lucas]

Walk the dinosaur.



That, or get laid.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Ok, should I change the title to "Comet" since they're bigger?

 

[Danoff]

Ok, should I change the title to "Comet" since they're bigger?

No. They're easier to see coming and your scenario doesn't give much warning time. Stick with asteroid, makes the most sense (and asteroids do get big enough to wipe out civilization).

 

[The Bman]

I'd book a spaceship flight and punch the asteroid apart with brass knuckles.

 

[Dennisch]

Going on a murderous rampage, since everybody is going to die anyway.

I'll use a twig and some cottonballs as weapons.

 

[CodeRedR51]

This was supposed to be a serious conversation.

 

[arora]

I would live just as I always do because anything at any time can happen. some people like fear so much when there is not enough they create some out of fantasy.

 

[Dennisch]

This was supposed to be a serious conversation.

I'll make an serious attempt, as I have a hard time thinking about what ifs...

I would get my closest friends and family together, find a place to escape the initial blast and such, then stuff that place full with food, drinks, fuel etc. etc. I'll get a CV Radio, some normal radios, and of course a generator.

I'll rob the pharmacy for everything they have, as most likely people will get hurt and/or sick.

Probably I'm forgetting about something now, but it's only a what if.

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

I am pretty worried now that NASA, Russia and China are actually trying to find the best way to prevent such incident. I read some articles about such prevention from solar sail, nuclear detonation on the surface or trajectory deflection. One that bothers me is Apophis 99942, there's a chance it will enter our gravity key hole in near future, and collide with our planet in the year 2036. If that happens, I would be preparing from now, get more money, save to build underground nuclear vault in the future, something similar of this :

http://www.gen4energy.com/technology/safety-security/

 

[Dennisch]

So, are you going to prepare from now on, or are you going to wait until 2029, when Apophis tries to go for the keyhole?

Edit:

If we are going to get hit, let it be like this :

No starving to death, no fear of looting groups of people, just plain and simple death.

 

[Ridox2JZGTE]

So, are you going to prepare from now on, or are you going to wait until 2029, when Apophis tries to go for the keyhole?

Edit:

If we are going to get hit, let it be like this :

No starving to death, no fear of looting groups of people, just plain and simple death.

Better prepare the fund from now, when the asteroid enter the keyhole and impact is imminent, time to build the vault, then in few months prior of impact, buy supplies for years to come.

Pray it won't hit near me, even if the impact does not directly affecting me, the aftermath would, chaos, famine, rampant diseases, economy collapses, years of climate disasters - sort of nuclear winter. Worst of all, humanity slow but painful destruction, anarchy, war, dark ages all over again.