There Is an Asteroid Heading Toward Earth, We Might be Able to do Something About it, Maybe
The title to this piece may be dramatic but it is true, at some point in the future it is a statistical certainty that a large body will form a collision course with the earth. Asteroids have hit the earth many times before and it just a matter of time before one crashes into our precious planet again. In January of this year for example an asteroid passed within 1.2 million miles of earth, moving at 47,344 miles per hour, according to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies. That one was big — about 1km wide and while 1.2 million miles doesn’t sound like a near miss, in space terms that was a little close for comfort. For reference the asteroid that collided with the earth around 65 million years ago and was at least partially responsible for the end of the dinosaur era was somewhere between 11 and 81 km across according to New Scientist.
You may have seen something in the news recently about a satellite being used to try and deflect an asteroid. It sounds far-fetched- send a tiny space craft hurtling across space, travelling at 14,000 mph, to hit a moving target only 530 feet across. Far-fetched or not though, NASA hit their target bang on. This was some amazing shooting. If you have ever been to the gun range, you know how hard it is to hit something at 100 yards. The scientists…
