Corrected entry: One of the things the creators of the movie did not think out is the issue of the asteroid's gravity. There are several problems with that. It is stated that the asteroid is the size of Texas. Even if we assumed it to have had 1000 miles of diameter (a really huge asteroid) and the same density as Earth it would have gravity of about 12% of Earth's gravity. In the movie it can be seen (even though stated otherwise) that the teams operate under earth-like gravity - tools, piping elements, debris all fall down with quite an acceleration. Also the astronauts move about very conveniently - much more easily than would for example on the Moon. On the other hand if we assumed that the asteroid had much higher density, which allowed it to had significant gravity, a near passing (a couple of hundred kilometers) of such a massive body alone would probably wipe out humanity just as efficiently as a direct hit. Even if we assumed that the asteroid's diameter was only 500 miles and its density was about the density of the Moon, the near passing of its two halves would wreak havoc on Earth as the influence of their gravity on, for example, ocean tides, would be up to 20 times bigger than Moon's.
Vader47000
7th Apr 2007
Armageddon (1998)
Correction: Gravitational forces don't have to be equally distributed throughout an astronomical body. They have what are called mass concentrations, or mascons, which are clusters of material beneath the surface of higher density than the rest of the object, while the body as a whole has a lower average gravity (mascons in the Moon had to be accounted for in adjusting Apollo mission lunar orbits). So the Roughnecks could just be working on a higher density area.
15th Aug 2004
Armageddon (1998)
Corrected entry: A few things about splitting the asteroid always annoyed me. They couldn't possibly calculate that drilling a certain depth would "split" the asteroid rather then blowing it to smaller but still deadly bits. Even if they did calculate right they did this on stable rotation. But as they stated the asteroid started rotating unpredictably after passing the moon so it could have turned towards earth causing one piece to hit as they calculated and the other to hit just a bit later. And last even if all 2 previous scenarios go just right (as in the movie) we saw that the asteroid was covered with huge high and sharp "mountains" which would most likely break of in the explosion and rain down on earth. So either way earth would be doomed.
Correction: In regards to the moon, the asteroid started to rotate after passing the moon, not change its trajectory. Thus the two pieces (if sucessfully split) would most likely miss earth. Furthermore, in a weightless environment, the two pieces would be pushed apart by the explosion with the same amount of force. Thus the trajactory of both pieces would be the same (but in opposite directions) from the moment it exploded. In regards to the sharp mountains, they aren't big enough to "doom" the earth and would mostly burn up upon entering the earth's atmosphere.
Correction: With regard to the assumption that the asteroid would split in half, there are a few mentions of a fault line on the asteroid, so it seems like NASA has scanned the asteroid enough to determine that placing the nuke at a certain depth will indeed split it along that fault line. As to the rotation issue, the graphic that shows the rotation indicates it is not spinning end over end but around its central front-to-back axis, so NASA calculates that the nuke splitting the rock in half would still work.
8th Feb 2003
Armageddon (1998)
Corrected entry: Truman is seen in Florida talking with the astronauts prior to lift-off. From the same command center, he controls the entire mission. But Mission Control for all missions is in Houston, Texas. Once the rocket "clears the tower," Mission Control in Houston takes over. How can Truman be in Florida, then appear in Texas a few seconds later?
Correction: Several hours pass between when the shuttle crews leave the NASA building to board the shuttles, and when they actually launch. Notice how it changes from sunlight to dusk in the shot of the two spacecraft after the astronauts board. The launch control room aka the firing room (the one with all the windows) is very different from the mission control room. There is plenty of time for Truman to fly back to Houston after watching the crews board the crew buses in Florida.
3rd Jan 2009
Armageddon (1998)
Corrected entry: Just before A.J goes down the chute in the Russian space station to refuel the rockets, you can see an American flag behind him. Odd that an American flag would be on a Russian space station.
Correction: Odd, perhaps, but far from impossible. Someone has made a character decision to bring it on board, simple as that.
The American flag is upside down, indicating a nation in distress. It could be the Russian taking a dig at America.
25th Mar 2003
Armageddon (1998)
Corrected entry: Throughout the movie, the United States is making all the decisions about how to do things. This is most demonstrated when the President of the United States gives the order to remote detonate before the 800 ft. hole is dug. Why does the President get to decide and almost doom the whole planet? Shouldn't the UN make decisions like that?
Correction: Remember the quote: "The United States government just asked us to save the world..." It is a NASA mission (with some co-operation from Russia), not a joint world mission. The President is head of NASA's chain of command, hence he gets to make all the decisions. He is also the sole person to authorize if, when, and where a US nuclear warhead can be detonated.
The UN is not a sovereign body nor an entity with any governmental authority unless specifically tasked with enforcement power via treaty or resolution, neither of which exist in this case. The U.S. wouldn't be gung-ho about ceding authority to the UN in matters such as this anyway.
21st Mar 2002
Armageddon (1998)
Corrected entry: At the beginning when the Chinese people arrive on Harry's rig, Harry says that Grace is going out with AJ due to a lack of choices because no one else is in her age bracket. However, after AJ proposes to Grace, Harry says that Oscar is 5 minutes older than Grace.
Correction: Harry didn't literally mean that Oscar was born five minutes before Grace, he's saying that Oscar is not old enough to have been a father figure to her. We also don't know if Oscar is single or not, he might have a girlfriend we don't get to see, if so he wasn't an option for Grace to date.
Was Oscar even on the oil rig?
7th Jul 2004
Armageddon (1998)
Corrected entry: When the two teams visit the space-station, NASA tracks them each through their green "blips" from their locaters. When A.J. and the Russian were locked in the fuel pod, the control team at NASA could see their green "blips" on their screen. The Russian didn't make the trip, why would he have a locater on him?
Correction: He would have been given one when he went up by himself. NASA would fit him with the correct equipment, being there by himself and all. It's common sense.
He's Russian and was sent up 18 months prior to NASA planning this mission. Why would NASA have given a Russian cosmonaut a tracker?
27th Aug 2001
Armageddon (1998)
Corrected entry: In the scene of the asteroid being split by the nuclear explosion we see the blast from Earth's point of view in settings which are on opposite sides of the world. This is impossible since the asteroid is coming from one direction and only half the planet would be able to see it.
Correction: The only location that is definitively identified is India and the Taj Mahal, which is shown in the daytime. The next shot could be in Africa which is west of India as it shows the sun setting. In the final shot could be anywhere, the only thing you see is a home with an American flag which does not mean it has to be in America, they could be flying the flag showing support of the MISSION or they could be US citizens living in a foreign country! So, it is very possible the three locations could be on the same part of the earth where they could all see the explosion.
The shot of the explosion in space shows it's over North America. So India would be on the other side of the planet at that time and couldn't see it.
30th Sep 2007
Armageddon (1998)
Corrected entry: If "NASA doubles up on everything.", why didn't the nuclear bomb on Independence go off when it crashed? Colonel Sharp stops Stamper from hitting their bomb with a wrench since it would set it off, so why didn't the one on Independence detonate?
Correction: A crash wouldn't set a nuclear bomb off; it takes a very precise set of events to occur for that to happen, which a crash couldn't possibly replicate. Nor, for that matter, would hitting one with a wrench, which Sharp undoubtedly knows, but with the fate of the Earth riding on that bomb, he can't risk Stamper damaging it. The easiest way to ensure that he doesn't do it again is to tell them that it might actually go off. It's not true, but Stamper and his men aren't going to know that.
A better question would be why they couldn't remote detonate the Independence nuke from the ground at the same time they try to activate the Freedom nuke.
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Correction: The mathematicians at NASA would have taken the fragments into account and set up the "zero-barrier" sufficiently far away. This is why the earth sees no effects from them. And gravity is increased due to the asteroid spinning.
Phixius ★