
Hawaiian Asteroid-Warning Telescope Passes Key Test - okket
https://www.space.com/41167-asteroid-warning-telescope-atlas-passes-test.html
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sandworm101
>> If 2018 LA had been big enough to cause a dangerous explosion, like the
asteroid that hit Russia in 2013, we'd have had enough warning that people
could evacuate the impact zone."

When I was at school my astronomy prof spoke of his work on a committee to
standardize how possible impacts would be announced to the public. There is a
real risk of mass panic killing far more people than the actually falling
rock.

Looking to the above example, that rock didn't hurt much of anyone in Russia.
Now imagine that same event about to happen over Africa. Are you really going
to initiate an evacuation of even a single city? People will die in that
evacuation. There isn't the infrastructure anywhere to move millions of people
overnight. What if a large part of a country is in the target zone? Such a
mass movement of people could trigger a war. You better be very sure about the
risk from the physical impact before making any announcement. It would have to
be far far worse than the 2013 Russia explosion before I'd say much of
anything.

~~~
Cthulhu_
The only thing I see in movies that go with a scenario like that is everyone
getting stuck on the highways on the way out. The current infrastructure
doesn't support a mass evacuation. Even buildings are struggling with it,
especially skyscrapers (see also 9/11, where hundreds of people died simply
because they couldn't get out).

This system claims 5 hours warning time. I guess that would be more than
enough to at least get people out of skyscrapers and into the underground
parking garages, but it's a scenario that you'd need to train for. Plus that's
(I think?) the first detection - after first detection, smart people first
need to do a risk assessment before they raise the alarms - if it's a false
alarm they'd risk panic and huge financial damage, like with the Hawaiian
missile alert a while ago.

~~~
mc32
The system and the people, everything behind this system, should have iron
clad immunity from any claims of any sort.

Imagine they sound the alarm, the thing falls, but, surprisingly avoids major
destruction, in the meantime the chaos leads to accidents, deaths and
looting... the cure ended up being worse than the disease in this particular
incident. People might rightly want to sue for damages, even if on average
this warning would save lives.

~~~
sandworm101
>>> iron clad immunity from any claims of any sort.

Not really possible. This is a planetary matter. That would require
cooperation from literally every legal jurisdiction, some of which have no
concept of such immunity. This is why such statements should not come from
individuals or groups but only from sovereign governments. NASA, not the
Hawaii telescope people.

