the Solar system is filled with asteroids and comets, remaining after the formation of the planets. And although most of them are small enough and the size not surpass the grains of sand or small stones, there are really dangerous “neighbors” that reach the size of several meters, or even kilometers. And perhaps in the future there will be a meeting such as space “aliens” to Land (as has happened in history many times).
Small pieces of the disused missiles cross the sky and blaze like meteors before finally burn up in the atmosphere. But the large space they have to overcome this fiery path and eventually face the surface of the Earth, where not much harm, and then will be picked up by collectors of meteorites and various scholars (who appreciate such gifts of heaven).
meanwhile, the researchers (and ordinary people) have long worried that the Ground can visit and potentially dangerous large asteroids. Moving at a speed of tens of kilometers per second, they can cause our planet to the incredible damage and trigger a new mass extinction.
Today, the scientific world knows how destructive can be the fall to Earth a huge meteorite (Chelyabinsk meteor reminded all the other inhabitants of the Earth). According to one version, the dinosaurs began to die out when an asteroid the size of about ten kilometers crashed into the Yucatan Peninsula about 65 million years ago.
In this regard, one of the topics of a recent meeting of the American geophysical Union (AGU) was devoted to the preparation to protect the planet from such a scenario. The plan includes measures to create so-called “observation point” and the unit of the interceptor.
But the researchers of the National laboratory of Los Alamos in new Mexico and the center of Goddard NASA is concerned about the time it will take to establish a solid rocket – from its design to launch. It takes about five years.
People are the first beings who are able to establish a daily study of near space and assess (at least approximately) how many dangerous objects are hidden in the dark.
Large objects are easier to detect, therefore, to take any action (to evacuate the space exposed to the danger areas). In addition, researchers believe that the most dangerous bulky space objects that threaten Earth, they have found (over 15 thousand).
little More “aliens” to discover, of course, harder, so they are often unexpected for us to fall on the planet.
the question Arises: can a person detect a threat, but can he today she really resist? If among our readers there are fans of sci-Fi movies, then surely they will immediately present the team of drillers led by hero (similar, of course, Bruce Willis) who is sent to the songs of the band Aerosmith blasting the offending asteroid. But, as always, real science is always more complicated than the plots of Hollywood movies.
Experts say that to blow up the comet or asteroid (as was done in the movie “Armageddon”) is not a good idea, since these smaller fragments will continue to threaten the Earth. In this case, the end of all living things on the planet (no matter how scary it may sound) would come not at the expense of one big Bang, but due to the whole “fire rain.”
NASA abandoned such ideas, thoroughly grounded in the 2007 report (PDF format).
the Real weapon, which will help mankind to prevent such a end of the world is time. For example, the recent proposal of scientists is to create sentinel spacecraft, which will be committed as soon as possible to warn about the threat and the interceptor missile ready to fly — looks much more realistic and effective. However, it will take several years before they are developed and put into action. What if we have this time?
the Researchers said that people could also try to slightly push the asteroid from its course to miss Earth. With this aim I propose to use small rocket boosters that could be delivered to the surface of the asteroid. In addition, there is the idea of using powerful laser beams for the same purpose.
If there isn’t much time, says the expert, it will be possible to use “kinetic energy weapons”, which basically gives the asteroid a notable kick with high velocity launch “cannon balls”. It can mislead an unexpected visitor.
While all of these ideas, only assumptions on how to act in this situation. And of mankind there is today no technology to implement such scenarios. No missiles, which at any moment will be ready to launch to respond to the threat, or other such devices. Not even a driller like Bruce Willis, just kidding professionals.
While only telescopes allow scientists to peer into the darkness to discover a potential space threats to our existence. So that mankind, according to experts, should begin to create tools that can be resorted to in the case of real emerging threat.
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