Kick The Ass Of That Asteroid Before It Kicks Ours

MayorBob.

Posted to SciTech on Wed Nov 22, 2006 at 03:02:03 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

Among cataclysmic predictions for how life, as we know it, will end on Earth, asteroid strikes rank right up there with super viruses, thermonuclear wars, and the rapture.  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is ill-equipped to fight viruses, control nuclear arms, and intervene with supreme deities.  Thus, their area of interest is in the matter of asteroids or any other extraterrestrial object colliding with the Earth.  Although it seems like the plot of a Hollywood movie, NASA is looking at plans to send humans in space ships to knock asteroids off a collision course with Earth.

Chris McKay from NASA's Johnson Space Center said "a human mission to a near Earth asteroid would be scientifically worthwhile."  It would be worthwhile from the standpoint of understanding both the nature of asteroids as well as "the threat they pose to us."  The technology to be used in such an enterprise is called the "Constellation" which is part of the project to return man to the moon.  McKay also said that in addition to understanding asteroids better, such visits will allow NASA to begin serious planning on how to deal with "killer asteroids" - just the sort of mission the public thinks NASA ought to be involved in.  Apparently, the technique for nudging asteroids off a collision course will be a lot less explosive than indicated by Armageddon.  Scientists estimate that "something with the same mass, acceleration, and thrust of a small car" could do the trick.

Earth, being just another object in the skies, gets hit by large space objects from time to time.  The last such collision, occurred in central Siberia and is commonly called the Tunguska blast.  This was a rather smallish asteroid or comet which devastated the area directly underneath the air blast, but damage elsewhere was limited by it occurring directly over land and in such an isolated area.

The next asteroid or comet might be a whole lot bigger and Earth, having over 70 percent of its surface covered by water, a collision would be much more catastrophic.  Scientists, recently examining records, found evidence of such a catastrophic collision occurring some 4,800 years ago in the Indian Ocean.  They estimate that large space objects have collided with the Earth on the average of once every 1,000 years.  NASA says there are 831 objects up in space which can come close enough to Earth for us to be concerned about them.  Apophis is one such asteroid which gave us a close pass in 2004 and is projected to return in 2036.  Although, the odds of Apophis hitting us in 2036 is pegged at 45,000 to one, one British politician said:

"It's not a case of if we will be hit, it is a question of when. Each of us is 750 times more likely to be killed by an asteroid than to win this weekend's lottery."