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Today:
Not so NASA
Posted: Apr 16, 2008 in Things to do, Culture, TV and Celebrities
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In Berlin, a 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA's estimates on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth, a German newspaper reported Tuesday, after spotting the boffins had miscalculated.
What is not being taught in this country that a 13 year old kid in another country is fixing NASAs math. NASA is supposed to be full of rocket scientist, but a child is making sure there decimal is in the right place? That makes me less confident in the governments hiring process.
Here's the full article about this. Nasa had said that the chances were one in 45,000. The schoolboy said the chances were actually one in 450. He took into consideration that the asteroid could hit one of the more than 40,000 satellites orbiting the earth, which would change its trajectory. Both the chances of it hitting and the difference in Nasa's estimate compared to the schoolboy's correct estimate are scary.
Update: Perhaps the kid is wrong?: Schoolboy's asteroid-strike sums are wrong