A researcher at RAND says that if a planet-busting asteroid is discovered to be approaching us, we, the great unwashed, should be kept in the dark.

Considering that most such objects are discovered by amateurs, how, exactly, is this to be done?

I always felt this was the weakest point in the prologue to "Deep Impact": if Elijah Wood could discover an asteroid using a little 8-inch reflector, how come he was the only one? How did the government manage to keep that a secret for nearly two year?

Because we aren't looking for them. It would be quite easily to discover such a thing by accident, and be the only one.

Hopefully it will be more difficult in the future, as we're now starting to do serious sky surveys.

As threats to civilization go, NEOs aren't real high on the list. As it is they are gradually being charted and studied, e.g., the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission that landed on Eros.

Of course, every dollar spent on the shuttle/space station boondoggle is one dollar less than can be used for actually studying the solar system and potential solutions to an errant asteroid problem.

I'm glad to see you link to that stupid story, but I'm surprised you don't bash on the arrogant RAND guy more.

It seems like a relic of antiquated command and control thinking to say that "government experts" could conclusively decide that there was "nothing to be done". Maybe I've read too many science fiction books, but it seems that if the creative energies of humanity (i.e. lots of civilian scientists and engineers and thinkers) were devoted to finding a way to redirect an incoming big rock, maybe something would be figured out.

Certainly if there is "nothing to be done", then there is no harm in trying. Sure, panic might result in some choas, but what difference does it make if were all going to die anyway?

He's not paying much attention to recent research.