300-400 million EUR seems like a bargain. And the added 'coolness' factor of working on the 'asteroid defence force' could be a great PR tool for getting kids into science.

(Not to mention that it could be something that would be an international effort. And we sorely need stuff that nations can agree and work together on to ease tensions)

As I have commented before. the concerned individual and organisations mean well, but to get serious they need to know structure and evolution of space bodies. Man dose not know that and current understanding are wrong assumption. Evolution of space bodies will give man understanding to all extinction hazard. From ocean plate clasps to asteroid impact. After Roosevelt and Churchill came to Tehran to meet Stalin. They discos their interest in alien and ancient civilization to shah and asked him if he had any information. Shah asked us for help. We gathered some. shah passed it on to Eisenhower and Churchill, because Roosevelt was dead. At my Last meeting, shah told me he promised them to send me to west to complete my grandfather unfinished work with max Planck and other scientist. As usual America and England failed their agreement and I have been mistreated. In response I have stopped providing them information. I only put information in my comments or if asked officially. MG1

A big asteroid is a big threat; see what the one that hitted Earth 65 million years ago did.
But that one was as big as the mount Everest.
It is unlikely that such a big one will hit us soon.

Another big threat is the eruption of a super-volcano, like the one under Yellowstone.

It is unlikely that such a big one will hit us soon.

That's the trick with likelyhood: You don't know when it will hit. Just because it's a 1-in-1000000 year event doesn't guarantee that we're safe for the next 500000 years.

Another big threat is the eruption of a super-volcano

Which is irrelevant, because it's not something we can, for the foreseeable future, do anything about. A 1km diameter rock in space is orders of magnitude easier to handle* than several hundred cubic kilometers of magma pushing up through the Earth's mantle.

* while still being barely within the scope where we can even think about doing anything about it.

The probability of a catastrophic asteroid impact in the next 1,000 years is very very low. The last one occurred around 60 million years ago.

The biggest threat to humanity today is ourselves. We have seriously overpopulated the planet and it is struggling to support us all. If you look at most if not all of the issues we face from food shortages to pollution we are destroying the planet. We have nowhere else to go yet the destruction continues. Trump says "burn coal and oil" while Putin says it's ok to use chemical weapons in Syria. Species extinction is occurring at it's fastest rate in history. Faster than any mass extinction that's ever occurred before. Yet the world continues on as if nothing is changing and the folks talking about it are crazy. No hope as far as I'm concerned. We're doomed to go extinct ourselves.

The probability of a catastrophic asteroid impact in the next 1,000 years is very very low.

That's not how probabilities work. And in any event it isn't a relevant argument given that a catastrophic impact is, well, catastrophic. In risk assessment you always have to look at probability AND severity.

This risk is not from an astroid but when the Lord Jesus returns to judge all for their sins. Read Revelations, the last book of the Bible, for the details.

2 Peter 3:9-12
"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!"

Apophis is coming in 2029, and will hit in 2036 if not deflected before then. The people were warned and warned, but did they listen?

They make a cream for that. I believe it is called Preparation H. For the big ass-roids I suggest maximum strength!

Apophis is coming in 2029, and will hit in 2036 if not deflected before then

Hit probability on the Palermo scale for 2039 is lower than -3 (i.e. below a backround level chance and even below what merits 'careful monitoring' at -2)

"That's not how probabilities work. And in any event it isn't a relevant argument given that a catastrophic impact is, well, catastrophic. In risk assessment you always have to look at probability AND severity.

Actually, that is how probabilities work. And no one lets severity determine behavior if the probability is extremely low. Have you stopped crossing the street? Do you protect yourself from a meteorite strike?

My favorite fake news always masquerades as settled science.

How big would a rock need to be to hit an ocean and cause rain for forty days and forty nights?

Not to mention that it could be something that would be an international effort. And we sorely need stuff that nations can agree and work together on to ease tensions

That ship sailed with Chicken Little and climate change.

First of all, the Yellowstone super-eruption has already been here, done that. What remains bubbling down under is pretty exhausted.

What should make you sweat, are the volcanoes around the Puget Sound, Seattle region. Any of those biggies go !BOOM! will be bad enough but if they trigger the neighbors in a (Wait for it) "cascade" of eruptions? The debris field will cover a very large part of North America.

And, to quote Professor Fate "When It gets up to my nose? I'm going to complain to somebody!"

Ain't no BEM angels in those cracked teapotty saucers goin' to save our sorry asses when Vulcan shows what a real god can do!

If I gotta believe in the stuporstitions of the facetiously ridiculous sheepfellaters?

"I believe that I will have another drink. And bartender, make it a double!"

You can quote me on that....

First of all, the Yellowstone super-eruption has already been here, done that. What remains bubbling down under is pretty exhausted.

No offence old chap, but that is just wrong. Trust me on this.

How big would a rock need to be to hit an ocean and cause rain for forty days and forty nights?

If it was big enough to do that, the rain would be the least of your worries. Eh? Think about it.

My favorite fake news always masquerades as settled science.

And.......? Anything intelligent to add, or is that it?

This risk is not from an astroid but when the Lord Jesus returns to judge all for their sins. Read Revelations, the last book of the Bible, for the details.

Hallelujah!!!!! Bronze age myth is going to save us all from a bleeding asteroid that the non-existent Lord frigging Jesus wouldn't see coming because he never bloody existed! Praise the Lord. Hallelujah! Thank God ;) we had colonies to whence we could remove these nutters back in the day. Shame we didn't keep a closer eye on the daft buggers.

This risk is not from an astroid but when the Lord Jesus returns to judge all for their sins. Read Revelations, the last book of the Bible, for the details.

2 Peter 3:9-12
"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!"

This comment convinces me human Stupidity is the bigger threat....

We've reduced the risk considerably by funding the NEO program at NASA. We need to continue programs like this, and fund a rapid response as well. We also need more than 2 weeks' warning. This will not be a massive effort but it could really pay off in the long run. Cheap insurance.

If you want to know more about current efforts, here you go: https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/

A crawl of that site will give you a pretty good idea of where we stand. We've detected 90% of the NEOs above 1 km in size; they're getting ready to start surveys to find 90% greater than 140 m in size.

Some people are willing to spend billions of dollars to aviod something that maybe has a 1 in a billion chance of happening. Some people talk of religion as if it is right, and others say that there is only a chance in a million that it could be true. But are these willing to invest something in it even though they think the probability is small?

No. Asteroids aren't "humanity's greatest challenge". Human over-population is.

Some people are willing to spend billions of dollars to aviod something that maybe has a 1 in a billion chance of happening. Some people talk of religion as if it is right, and others say that there is only a chance in a million that it could be true. But are these willing to invest something in it even though they think the probability is small?

You have a reference that one in a billion chance?

Liberals love to spend their time spreading paranoia regarding things they can do nothing about, and which have an almost non-existent level of danger, while things we can do something about and which have an extremely high level of danger they ignore. So what do you think liberals ignore? You figure it out. It is as obvious as the hand in front of your face.

The probability of a catastrophic asteroid impact in the next 1,000 years is very very low. The last one occurred around 60 million years ago.

The Tunguska event was in 1908. Was catastrophic to a rather large chunk of Russian geography...
Not to mention Chelyabinsk in 2013...

No. Asteroids aren't "humanity's greatest challenge". Human over-population is.

Which brings us back to stupidity. Keep it in yer pants, fer Chrissake... Or at least use a condom...

Any sufficiently intelligent and technologically advanced civilization will look to protect itself from the threat of asteroid impact. I just hope we are one of them.

Let's not overlook the fact that our exploring NEOs presents a big opportunity for discovery and resource utilization. For starters, rock can possibly be used as shielding, ice for drinking and its components, and metals for parts/structures, etc. Considering how much it costs to put a pound of anything into space, there are plenty of ideas for using tons of materials already found up there.

I would also note that launching a laser powerful enough to vaporize a large asteroid is probably not going to happen anytime soon. However, another way to deflect asteroids is to heat up a portion of it with a more modest solar or nuclear-powered laser so that it acts like a small rocket engine and pushes the asteroid onto a better trajectory.

Hello mark

Instead of ad libbing and doing it badly, I suggest a few seconds of research and source-posting which is much more useful

"Asteroid laser ablation is a proposed method for deflecting asteroids, involving the use of a laser array to alter the orbit of an asteroid. Laser Ablation works by heating up a substance enough to allow gaseous material to eject, either through sublimation (solid to gas) or vaporization (liquid to gas)."

Thanx