Thread by @wmcarterelliott

Well, Yellowstone is overdue for it's next mega-eruption, likewise the West Coast's "Big One", there's Apophis, as asteroid which will miss us in 2029, but might centerpunch Earth in 2037, and an island off West Africa splitting in half, and when it does, a 500' tsunami hits NYC.

https://twitter.com/3L3V3NTH/status/1334217465098760192

But, at this rate, we'll be lucky to get thru the next few weeks w/o getting nuked by North Korea (under PUTIN's orders, or maybe just Trump having the Last Word as he exits.

Worrying about the climate seems kinda quaint to me, ATM. But let's invest in EVs and solar panels...

https://twitter.com/wmcarterelliott/status/1334229068695265280

And paint roads, parking lots, and roofs white to reduce how much heat Earth absorbs from sunlight.

We had the technology to protect the West from ICBM/nuclear attack, but Flynn sold that to PUTIN. That one act of Treason could *double* our casualties in a nuclear war.

And that island off Africa is being split by the rain filling the crack. Drill a few drainage wells, and sell the water to the Saharan countries, where drinking water costs more than oil. A barrier around the island would be a good idea until it stabilizes.

Tapping Yellowstone's

geothermal energy would help forestall the inevitable eruption, but maybe factory farms might alleviate famines in the post-COVID population.

My advice would be to divert the Colorado River thru the Yellowstone caldera, and send the blow-off steam into the atmosphere for rain.

As for Apophis, we need to be ready for it's 2029 pass to give us time to prevent the 2037 Extinction-Level Impact. At most, we only need to change its velocity ~5000 miles per 9 years (~0.063 mph).

That's for one nudge in 2029. If you'd rather put a nuclear rocket on it,

then you should aim for a total thrust ending up at twice that delta-V, or 0.125 mph, but you have 9 years to achieve that velocity. The bad news is that it weighs 60 TRILLION pounds.

But there are a lot of seconds in 9 yrs, so the delta-V is just 6.5e(-10) ft/sec2 (=20e-12 gs).

The thrust of the nuclear rocket would be ~1200 pounds.

We* can do that.

*I can, but I don't think the rest of you are up to it, TBH.

Downside, it's got to be in-orbit in 2019.

We Boomers used to eat problems like this for breakfast, but... Good Luck to you Millennials!

I'll double-check my calculations (I was distracted) and issue a correction if needed, but in any case, it's GOT to be on an intercept course in 2029, and it'll take smart aerospace engineers and scientists to pull this off.

I suggest you start being nicer to @elonmusk.

Typo - it must be in orbit by 2029, not 2019.

Other numbers checked out.

1,200-pound thrust rocket ready to fire continuously for ~9 years in an intercept trajectory by 2029.

Not counting Apophis' rotation/tumbling, which we'd need to stop or accommodate (w/ multiple rockets).

As for The Big One overdue to level the California coast - We can't stop it from happening, so we need to prepare for the worst, save as many people as possible, and rebuild smarter.

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