[paraclete]

The asteroid, or near Earth object, named Florence, passed by today some 4 million miles out, a somewhat frequent visitor, this is the first time we have heard of it. The question comes to mind, shouldn't we be putting more resources into the identification of such objects, rather than increasing military expenditure and adventurism?

A further thought comes mind, as these rocks have mastered space travel and we have not, could we use them to hitch a ride? It seems they have everything, minerals to mine, a regular schedule and known trajectory

[joypulv]

We put a good amount into finding them and predicting their pass bys.
We have landed on one or two for the purpose of investigating actual mining, so far not worth it. None seem to be made of gold or platinum.

[tomder55]

Missed it by that much !

[paraclete]

Yes Tom it was supposed to miss, Florence doesn't pose any threat to Earth. It's orbit doesn't cross earth's orbit but there are many of these objects and they keep discovering more. It is a busy place out there and we might not see the rogue that finally hits. Some of these objects are big enough to destroy us, they pose a greater threat that the threats we face on the planet. We must stop this paranoid pursuit of war and use our efforts fro other pursuits