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It Came From Outer Space

Congress Might Have Doomed Us All to an Asteroid Apocalypse. Thanks, Guys.

by Rebecca Pahle | 2:00 pm, March 20th, 2013


The last few months have seen several asteroids unexpectedly buzz our planet, a fact that has caused a bit of concern for Congress. After all, while the chances of a catastrophic asteroid impact are tiny, if one does manage to hit us the effect could be pretty bad. Like, end of humanity bad. So it makes sense that Congress would want someone monitoring near-Earth asteroids just in case one should come barreling towards us.

Hmmm. Who does Congress have to turn to when they need someone to watch the skies?

NASA.

Whose budget has Congress drastically cut in recent years?

NASA.

You see where this is going.

Back in 2005 Congress told NASA to “detect, track and characterize 90 percent” of near-Earth objects. John Holdren, President Obama‘s science advisor, estimates that there might be hundreds of thousands of them that we don’t even know about. But so far NASA’s only detected only 10% of near-Earth objects over 459 meters across.

In a Congressional hearing held yesterday, NASA chief Charles Bolden explained why. Turns out, Congress gave NASA a job but not the money they need to do said job. I’m sure they just forgot.

Said Bolden:

“Our estimate right now is at the present budget levels it will be 2030 before we’re able to reach the 90 percent level as prescribed by Congress. You all told us to do something, and between the administration and the Congress, the bottom line is the funding did not come…

The answer to you is, ‘if it’s coming in three weeks, pray. The reason I can’t do anything in the next three weeks is because for decades we have put it off.’

That was a NASA-level burn right there.

Jesus, Congress. Bruce Willis is almost 60. I’m not sure he’ll be able to save us from an incoming asteroid in, say, 2025. What are you doing?

(via: blastr)

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  • Nick Gaston

    Jeez…even OCP and Weyland-Yutani wouldn’t be this bad. At least they wouldn’t *deliberately* try and destroy their only market.

  • Pfedac

    Fortunately, we Europeans have all the money needed to do it and… oh… oh… ELT… economic crisis… (well, in fact we have a program for NEO (near earth objects), but nothing compared to what NASA should have been able to do)
    But to come back to the NASA funding problem, well, the problem also comes from the fact that nearly all the recent big budget mission ended up costing far more than scheduled. I know that the cost of a mission nearly always exceeds its budget, but the JWST has been an incredible demonstration of wasted money, there is no other words. The problem is that NASA COULD have decided to use its budget for NEO detection, but it decided to use it for more “exciting” things. NASA get its budget from Congress, Congress gets elected by people, people want their money to be used for THEM or for exciting things, not for things they do not understand. At least your space agency is known throughout the world, not many countries can say the same (well, in Europe we have both ESA and country-related space agencies so it’s no wonder nobody cares).

  • Betty Windsor

    Oooh, this is when I look to Neil D Tyson. Make your…. words go to their brains.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=734862248 Dan Hydar

    Meh. The ideological opposition to missile defence might have doomed us to a nuclear apocalypse. Whatever’s first…

  • http://www.facebook.com/jasper.johns.7 Jasper Johns

    This all sounds very much like a novel I just read called “THE MYOSHI EFFECT” which is about what happens when a giant asteroid hurtles toward earth, and how they try to destroy it. “THE MYOSHI EFFECT” is a black humor, sort of Douglas Adams-y, but very factual. Weird how fiction imitates life.

  • Canisa

    Maybe the Chinese will help us out? Again.

  • Anonymous

    We already have an asteroid headed directly toward our planet. It’s
    called climate change. And Congress is like a deer caught in
    headlights. Frozen in place by the ringing cash registers of fossil
    fuel lobbyists.

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