Protecting Earth from an asteroid strike - what can we do?

[nitpicker]

http://www.dw.com/en/protecting-earth-from-an-asteroid-strike-what-can-we-do/a-40340572

Protecting Earth from an asteroid strike - what can we do?

(snip)
An asteroid named Florence whizzed past Earth on Friday, safely passing us by at the distance of 7 million kilometers (4.4 million miles) from the surface. According to NASA, Florence was "the largest asteroid to pass this close to our planet since the first near-Earth asteroid was discovered over a century ago."

With its diameter of 4.4 kilometers, NASA classifies the object as "potentially hazardous." An impact with an asteroid this size would cause unprecedented destruction. In 2013, a much smaller and previously undetected meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, releasing the energy equivalent around 30 Hiroshima atom bombs, according to NASA. As the blast happened over 23 kilometers above ground, most of the energy was absorbed by the atmosphere and nobody was killed. Still, the resulting shockwave knocked people off their feet, shattered windows in six Russian cities, and the fireball temporarily blinded scores of observers on the ground. Scientists estimate that the object was 59 feet (18 meters) wide.

The events such as the Chelyabinsk blast, or the more devastating Tunguska incident in 1908, remain very rare. Next time, however, we might be ready for it – with scientists across the globe developing numerous strategies for planetary defense.

The science fiction notion of blasting an asteroid out of the sky might not be enough to protect humanity, researchers say. Our nuclear missiles could be effective against smaller asteroids, but any object big enough to threaten our civilization would be too big to be destroyed in such a way. Additionally, fragmenting an incoming asteroid could create a "shotgun effect" with many smaller pieces possibly dealing even more damage when hitting Earth.

A more advanced concept involving nuclear weapons was picked up by NASA in 2012 from Iowa State researcher Bong Wie and NASA engineer Brent Barbee. The duo assumed varying warning times to mount an anti-asteroid mission: ranging from several years to only days before the impact. he risk of asteroids hitting Earth is "very real," Wie said in a paper published at NASA's website. "It is only a matter of when, and humankind must be prepared for it."

The researchers created a concept for a two-part spacecraft called Hypervelocity Asteroid Intercept Vehicle or HAIV. The vehicle would carry a nuclear bomb. Approaching the asteroid, the non-nuclear section of the HAIV would smash into it and create a crater. The nuclear device would then enter the crater and detonate, with the strength of the blast magnified multiple times underground. If done correctly, the blast might be enough to scatter asteroid fragments and reduce their chances of hitting Earth.

According to Wie and Barbee, their system would be capable of destroying an asteroid of up to 45 meters in size outside the orbit of the Moon, providing a one-week warning. Larger objects would demand longer warning periods. However, it would first take several years to build such a system, and its components still need to be experimentally tested.

With HAIV still on the drawing board, both NASA and their European colleagues in ESA are already preparing missions to test the kinetic impactor technique – hitting asteroids with man-made objects to alter their course. Given long enough warning times, even a slight course correction could direct an asteroid safely past Earth.

NASA is currently designing the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, expected to eventually rendezvous with an asteroid called Didymos. The asteroid would fly by Earth in 2022 and then again in 2024. Didymos is a binary system, consisting of a larger object, some 780 meters in size, and a smaller one, around 160 meters wide, which is orbiting his larger twin. After catching up with Didymos, the refrigerator-sized DART will strike the smaller object while traveling at the speed around six kilometer per second, which is nine times faster than a bullet. The impact should change the orbit of smaller segment and provide data for such attempts on a larger scale.
(snip)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Step One:

Get rid of unstable leaders who are willfully ignorant and refuse to read briefing papers longer than one page.

Two: Get rid of Republicans who have shown no ability to govern beyond a 90 day corporate earnings report event horizon.

P.S. Thanks for posting. Interesting article.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

2. What can we do? Good luck and have a nice time!

P.s. Article is intriguing. Thank god we have scientists in the room that rely on facts- press on NASA

[lastlib]

3. P.P.S.: ...while you can.

Before you get to be run by morons.