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Sydney posted an update 7 years, 5 months ago
The Division of Planetary Sciences is meeting in my city this week. I attended and spoke with Schelte “Bobby” Bus, the Deputy Director of NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii for a little over 30 minutes today. Nearing the end of our conversation, he started talking about planetary defense. I kid you not this man looked me dead in the eyes and said, “We can’t control hurricanes. We can’t control earthquakes. But we can change an asteroid’s trajectory out in space. It’s just physics!” I didn’t say anything I just squinted at him with a face that I hope said “Sure we can’t. I hope you know how silly and inconsistent you sound. Extraneous details are your tell, liar. ” I hadn’t mentioned anything about hurricanes or earthquakes. I just politely asked him about his work and he did all the talking. He chose to say that on his own accord.
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Don’t know whether to laugh or shake my head in disgust…
I know it’s possible he truly believes what he said. Maybe he has devoted his energies to stopping the threat of pseudo science. Maybe he’s just a “good liberal” with the ugly habit of value signaling. (This is no virtue.)
Just because he’s a NASA employee, doesn’t mean he’s got his wits about him necessarily…
Too true 🙂
Hmmmmm. It seems he has at least two different types of causality in mind here. I also wonder whether he would hold that there is an irradicable incalculability (see Max Weber’s discussion of the falling, splintering boulder in, I believe somewhere in the back half of Roscher and Kneis: the logical problems of historical economics) involved in changing an asteroid’s trajectory. Did he, or anyone else at the meeting, happen to mention the recent festivities at Sunspot? Just curious.
I only stuck around for an hour or so. I looked at some posters and listened to a couple short lectures about oumuamua. I didn’t ask anyone about Sunspot and no one brought it up.
Well, I did ask Dr. Bus if his telescope rotated on mercury. That was the closest I got to mentioning Sunspot. He said no, but mercury is used for the mirror.
If they’re upto Planteray Defense for Asteroids, then they’ll soon be pumping out space weapons to protect us from the Space Aliens…
This guy has spent a lot of time looking at the asteroid belt. You should have told him that we can control hurricanes and earthquakes.
Do you know what the latest ‘defense’ is? Putting a satellite into drag orbit behind the asteroid and use the gravity of it’s mass to pull the asteroid off course.. It’s physics… https://media.tenor.com/images/1a3f1ac2c7ab7d408b65096de61d94b1/tenor.gif
XD Ha!
Part of me wishes I had challenged his claim just to watch his body language. When I walked by his booth later on, he didn’t attempt to make eye contact. I figured he knew I knew, or at least sensed my distrust. As if manipulating earthquakes and hurricanes wouldn’t also involve physics. As if the methods for protecting the earth against an NEO wouldn’t involve a more sophisticated technology. I’m young, but I’m not that big of a fool.
check this out…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnVOdPCNyPM