Trial Run Mission Will Make Sure Asteroid Deflection Method Really Works

Why not test using asteroids as country killers by slinging some at pre-arranged targets on the Moon or even Earth?

What a defensive or offensive weapon that would be!

I would think that everyone is treating this seriously. I mean, if a "global killer" hit us, I suppose nuclear war would be the least of our worries. Borrowing a quote from Armageddon, "for the first time in the history of the planet, a species has the technology to prevent its own extinction."....

@gizmowiz:
I'm not sure if you serious or just trolling? You often tend to spit out aggressive and often political nonsense.

Anyway, to "test" to sling a asteroid at a country seems like the dumbest thing I have heard since...well, ever?

-I dont want to live on this planet anymore

I have a pretty simple idea for there problem but I will not say it here. They can contact me and I will tell them.

The truly dangerous asteroids are the ones that go undetected until they come close to earth. There are many fairly recent examples of asteroids that were large enough to cause massive damage from an impact with earth, but went undetected until they were very close. Due to the relatively long time frame needed for this probe to prepare for launch, travel hundreds of thousands of miles to intercept the asteroid, and then slowly move it away from a trajectory that threatens the earth, such a system would have limited real value.

A better use of the money for humanity's immediate benefit would be to use it for finding a cure for malaria. This would solve an actual problem that costs millions of lives each year, rather than a problem that poses a relatively remote threat.

The best way to defend against asteroids is WITH asteroids in a game of cosmic billiard balls.

We can land a craft on a smaller asteroid on a close approach to the Moon-Earth system. Say a 20 to 30 feet small asteroid. Then strap that craft to the asteroid and point the engine out to space. Ignite the engine and nudge it slowing so that it is captured in orbit around the Moon--in a permanent orbit.

Then refuel the craft from Earth so the engine is full fueled and ready to go. And when the right time comes simply nudge it out of orbit and Slingshot it around the Earth to intercept the incoming asteroid.

The vast differences in speeds would allow an asteroid ten times smaller to pulverize an incoming asteroid. Thus a 50 feet captured Asteroid could be used to destroy a 500 foot incoming asteroid due to the vast amount of kinetic energy involved which is magnitudes more than all the nuclear weapons on Earth.

Alternatively we can slingshot the asteroid to a parallel path and use it's gravity tug to nudge it off course--probably preferred.

Not only is this feasible--we have already landed on several asteroids--it's something that gives us defensive weapons to use for future generations so long as we capture them in stable Moon orbits (at a distance very close to exit velocity so that it can easily be speeded up and sent on it's way).

We could easily capture a dozen or two different sized asteroids for use as 'cosmic billiard destroyers' for future generations to use.

It would be tricky but we can test it with SMALL asteroids of 10 to 20 feet at first and then slowly increase that so that we capture asteroids