[Phillip Beall]

All,

In our Meshtastic talk at the Club meeting on Saturday I jokingly gave the scenario of “the zombie apocalypse” as an example of how we might be completely incapable of using any normal communication technique.  This might be a more realistic example – Earth is unprepared for the serious threat of city-killer asteroids (link here).  While it sounds like something from a bad black and white movie, it is a genuine threat according to the author, Venkatesh V. Ranjan, who is a postdoctoral researcher at New Mexico State University.

Two takeaways from the article:

What happens when a massive asteroid meets an unprepared planet?

You don’t have to look back to the dinosaurs for an answer: On Feb. 15, 2013, a 66-foot rock streaked over Chelyabinsk, Russia, releasing about 30 times more energy than the Hiroshima atomic bomb and injuring roughly 1,600 people.

and

The likelihood of an impact isn’t low. A 2025 analysis led by the planetary scientist Carrie Nugent estimates asteroids 460 feet or larger strike Earth roughly once every 11,000 years — a 0.009 percent chance annually. But those odds are 1,000 times greater than your annual risk of dying in an airplane crash.

It is behind a paywall, but the link above is to an archive site that has the full opinion piece sans graphics/images.  The bottom line?  While the zombie apocalypse will continue to be a titillating and irresistible example to use, a more realistic one would definitely be an asteroid.  The energy they can release is beyond belief.

73

Phillip Beall (W5EBC)

[KI5VNL]

Phillip,

As usual, you are 100 percent spot on!  95% of our population has not clue about topics such as this.  Moreover, that same 95% has no idea what it means when someone has a go bag or bug out bug (Bob Bag) to get them home should a catastrophic event happen that leaves their mode of transportation useless.  Your scenario is quite plausible, and should it actually happen, cell phones, repeater systems, etc., might be rendered useless. I have been, for lack of a better word, a prepper for quite some time.  My wife and I always have our go bag in the vehicle so if something should happen, we at least have some tools to aid in our getting back to the farm.

And I need to add, that should this happen, people need to be prepared for human kindness and understanding fading away.

Keith

[Author]

Posts