Asteroid 2004MN4

Further observations will show approximately what 2004MN4 is made of. I have hope that it's a rocky body with quality ores such as nickel/iron... but only a Deep impact style probe would give us truly hard data.

Now, if you look at the orbital plot [nasa.gov], you'll note just how close this rock is right now... and how close it gets twice a year, not just on april 13, 2029.

While the newspapers and the slashdot articles are focused on the potential impact energy, (m*v), I'm far more interested in m. This rock has more mass than mankind has put into space since the beginning of the Space age; far, far more mass than is projected to be in the International Space station. It's bigger than a football stadium! And there it goes by, whizzing overhead, on near miss after near miss, for the next couple centuries.

(note I may have slipped a decimal point here) Assume 2004MN is 1% nickel. Earth value of 8,000,000 tonnes of nickel is: 12,200,000,000 US dollars. (well, until the nickel futures market crashes harder than this asteroid will). Value of any material, if it were in earth orbit, is 10,000/lb and that's too many zeros for me to type here. For just the nickel. Oxygen is even more valuable. Slag is valuable.

If we just had a booster on the pad with enough oomph, we could get a probe there in a matter of weeks [nasa.gov].

IF this asteroid contains valuable materials (be they platinum, iron, nickel, gold, oxygen, or carbon), it would be a bonanza for mankind's space efforts.

Let's find out! Divert Dawn [ucla.edu](launch date 06/06), or Deep Impact [nasa.gov] (launch date 01/12/05).

This asteroid (and many other NEAs like it [nasa.gov]) is not just a threat, but an opportunity [blogspot.com]. It's an opportunity to get a leg up into space.

Can we afford to take a look? Can we afford not to, with the odds of it striking us currently at 1 out of 45?

Bonus Link: Alas, Clementine:

In October 1997, the Administration wielded its line-item veto power against the Department of Defense (DoD) Clementine II mission.

Launched in 1999, the mission would have approached an asteroid named Toutatis, sending a rocket equipped with a camera directly to the asteroid. After taking close-up pictures of Toutatis, the camera would have smashed into its surface while the Clementine spacecraft recorded the impact flash and then analyzed any ejected material. The million asteroid intercept mission would have provided vital input to the construction of weapons capable of deflecting asteroids or comets on a collision course with Earth.

Clementine II would have undertaken the first step in direct asteroid mitigation by attempting to strike one or more asteroids to determine their structure and how easy it would have been to move them. At the time, the National Space Society strongly objected to the President's veto and has continued to follow the progress being made by the Department of Defense and other partners to develop alternative solutions.

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