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Narrator: Chicken Little was in the woods one day when an acorn fell on her head. It scared her so much she trembled all over. She shook so hard, half her feathers fell out.
Chicken Little: “Help! Help! The sky is falling! I have to go tell the king!”
Narrator: So she ran in great fright to tell the king. Along the way she met Henny Penny.
Henny Penny: “Where are you going, Chicken Little?”
Chicken Little: “Oh, help! The sky is falling!”
Henny Penny: “How do you know?”
Chicken Little: “I saw it with my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!”
Henny Penny: “This is terrible, just terrible! We’d better hurry up.”
-Taken from ‘The Story of Chicken Little’ (Steve Kellogg)-
Chicken Little was right! According to NASA scientists the ‘sky’ is falling. They estimate about 90 per cent of potential planet killing asteroids have been surveyed by astronomers. Scientists further estimate 99% of asteroids aren’t large enough to seriously damage our planet though some are large enough to pulverize a city. Potential planet busters have been spotted. A European astronomer recently took pictures of a huge asteroid dubbed Apophis. This mega-rock was much larger than previously thought. Potential planet killers are out there and can strike when we least expect. These killer rocks are looming closer to Earth according to recent news reports. It’s time we pool our collective scientific knowledge to devise stave off extinction.
The Chicken Little syndrome or fear mongering a term coined during the 1950’s inspired from a classic children’s tale can have a paralyzing effect on individuals and societies. NASA the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is working hard to fix the problem. If living is something you value, Earth needs you. The American space agency is recruiting amateur astronomers to locate dangerous asteroids. To start up you need a decent telescope, a book about asteroids, and a list of resource people knowledgeable on asteroids to answer questions.
Brian Muirhead Chief engineer/leader of the Asteroid Redirect Mission said NASA has plans to capture an asteroid, redirect it to lunar orbit, and fly in astronauts to study it. Muirhead further stated that asteroids need to be tracked, identified, and characterized. His announcement came four months after a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia last February sending scores of injured to area hospitals.
On the same day asteroid 2012 DA14 flew past at a distance less than 17 miles from Earth surface! Astronomers never saw it coming until it whizzed past. The undetected asteroid was 18 miles wide big enough to take out Chicago had it struck! The thing was so close it zipped through orbiting telecommunications satellites undetected. If you don’t see the Hand of GOD in these events something’s wrong with one of us. The astronomical happenings of the past few months should serve as a global wake-up call. As I write 2013 NE19 a football field sized asteroid estimated to be between 194 to 426 feet wide is passing within 2.6 million miles from earth according to Space.com.
Science non-profit foundation B612 has been trying to raise asteroid awareness for years but until very recently people and other space agencies have ignored them. B612 is in process of forming an asteroid hunting mission. An infrared space telescope aptly named Sentinel is due for launch July of 2018 for its 6 ½ year asteroid hunting mission.
Filipinos are prominent in the field of Astronomy. A large number of asteroids have been named after famous Filipino’s. Asteroid 6282 Edwelda was named to honor of Edwin L. Aguirre and Imelda B. Joson by the International Astronomical Union in 1995. The pair authored a popular book on Halley’s Comet and Philippine editors of multinational ‘Sky and Telescope Magazine.’ Asteroid 4866 was named after Jesuit priest former director of the Manila Observatory Father Victor L. Badillo in 2005. The asteroid was named in his honor in recognition of his work to popularize astronomy back home. The priest was also past president of the Philippine Astronomical Society from 1972 to 1990. Asteroid 6636 Kintanar circles the Sun in orbit between Mars and Jupiter; it was named after Dr. Roman Lucero Kintanar. He is past president of the U.N. World Meteorological Organization, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. He served from 1958-1994. Reader there are many other asteroids named for honor famous Filipinos. For a complete listing read/search ‘Another Filipino Name in Space.’
Behind every dark cloud there’s a pot of gold. Asteroids contain large amounts of gold, silver, diamonds, an assortment of other precious metals, are made of rock, iron, or a conglomeration of all above. The primary reason for mining them can be spelled in five letters M-O-N-E-Y. Futuristic mining company Planetary Resources is thinking ahead. It along with several similar companies are waiting when deep space mining will be feasible and company owned ore ships will fly to distant asteroid fields on exploratory mining expeditions to search for promising asteroid fields. Similar to ocean going fish factory ships where crews catch, sort, fillet, package and freeze their catch. Planned space mining companies envision a time when they will assemble massive free floating factories in space or on interstellar bodies. Their purpose will be to mine, smelt and manufacture items from asteroids captured millions of miles from Earth. Asteroids vary in size and shape; their numbers appear limitless. Why pulverize these money making monsters when with a little ingenuity and a lot of hard work zillions can be made? Earth defenses can deflect the dangerous ones away from us and mine them later. With material poverty eliminated each woman can live like a queen each man a king. The potential wealth mined from these ‘nickels from Heaven’ can pay our way to the stars.
Asteroid mining companies will help lead the way towards humanities eventual break from Earth. There is a persistent problem that bars the way; we must free ourselves from our antiquated notions of the nation state replete with its ongoing turf wars and oppressive taxation lead by corporate demons and political clowns who foment division along lines of religion, race, class, and gender. Humanity must develop ways and means to insure that all are treated fairly. We are stewards of creation not its executioners. This is the only way to insure permanent peace and prosperity.
The love of ‘stuff’ a primal necessity leftover from our earlier hunter-gatherer days must be replaced with a reverence for all life. Nobody should be poor unless they freely choose to be so. Government will always be with us regardless of how many star systems we colonize. Existing systems of government have always used their power to misdirect and bully the masses. Futuristic space technology will require workers/colonists to develop user friendly progressive modes and methods of progressive management. Aforementioned interstellar entrepreneurs must purge themselves and their companies of existent systems of government or be gobbled up by them. Humanity doesn’t need futuristic versions of the same old thing.
For more on asteroid spotting and other topics of pertinent interest go on line to ‘Hunting Asteroids From Your Backyard-Asteroids,’ www.Space.com, Adler Planetarium, http://www.planetaryresources.com/, ‘Filipinos in Astronomy-Video Results,’ ‘Mining Asteroids in Space-Image Results, Mining Asteroids in Space-Video Results, ‘The Promise and Perils of Mining Asteroids’ by Marc Kaufman (National Geographic News), http://www.nasa.com/, Filipino Astronomers, and www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative, and ‘The Sky Above’ for additional information.
As global economies crumble the mad dash to get to the ‘Land of the Free’ has morphed into a vicious enterprise raking in billions to underworld entrepreneurs. ‘La Migra’ explores the questions and supply the answers to the continuing immigration crises and the dire need to reform existing immigration policies and practices. Till then ‘love all, trust a very few, and do no harm to no one (William Shakespeare).’ GOD be with you.
(vamaxwell@yahoo.com)