Kick Asteroid: A Kickstarter Project by Bill Nye

The science guy himself has returned, and this time, he’s taken to Kickstarter to fund a series of new arts-y and science-y posters under the series name “Kick Asteroid”.

The series name comes from a light joke off of some of the plans released by NASA to prevent the impact of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) that are on a collision course with earth. Basically, these are NASA’s best ideas for making sure humans don’t go out with the same big bang that dinosaurs did.

The product line will span to not just posters, but to T-Shirts, hats, flags and many other kinds of wearables. According to a video by Nye on the official Kickstarter Page of the project, Nye hopes that by getting people talking about the very real threat of a space rock on a collision course with earth, awareness levels of the problem will reach more and more ears, and eventually the awareness will lead to more funding to build the satellites we need to, ahem, ‘kick’ those asteroids.

The kicking in question refers to three options that NASA has proposed to deal with asteroids. Only two of the three options involve something kick-like; The third option revolves around landing a heavy spacecraft onto the surface of an incoming NEO to increase its mass and alter its velocity. The other two methods involve more physical displays of prowess to really show those no-good asteroids who’s boss: In one method, NASA will send a spacecraft onto a collision course with the asteroid, hoping the resulting collision will set the asteroid far enough off course to dodge planet earth. The last solution sounds like something straight out of an action movie: As a last resort, NASA would fire a nuclear missile from a satellite at an asteroid. The impact from the missile would either be enough to nudge the rock off course, or the missile might splinter the rock into smaller pieces with less mass, which would also alter their trajectories.

Nye invites backers to become “Defenders of Earth” by backing the project, and by proudly showing the world the need to “Kick Asteroid”.

The project started around June 25th and is set to end on July 26th. It will most likely complete its funding, as it has already raised over $30,000 of its $50,000 goal. Unless funding seriously drops off in the next few weeks, it looks like the Asteroid Kickers will be out and about, defending the earth in no time.

Supporters of the project can select quite a few options, and the total price range is staggering. For the reasonable price of $10, the team will send backers an adorable asteroid plushie, which will allow them to literally kick asteroid to their heart’s content. The backer rewards raise up several tiers, with different options such at T-Shirts, Posters, and T-Shirts + Posters all standing as solid alternatives to the asteroid plushie. Then, last (but sure as heck not least) is the $5,000 super reward, which will buy backers a trip down to meet with Bill Nye himself, get them an exclusive tour of Nye’s Planetary Society Headquarters, and feature a heaping load of Asteroid Kicker gear to boot.

And believe us when we say that all of that cool stuff sounds like a solid option for $5,000. But if you’d like our advice, going for the $5,000 option sounds like a bit of a waste. Why spend $5,000 on one single lunch trip and building tour? Especially when the option to spend $5,000 on 500 adorable asteroid plushies is right there in front of you? So have fun with all your boring plane rides and lunches with world-famous science persons. If you need us, we’ll be kicking our way through a swimming pool full of asteroid plushies.