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NEWS > SCIENCE > SCIENTISTS TRYING EVERYTHING TO STOP ASTEROID HEADED STRAIGHT TOWARDS EARTH
SCIENTISTS TRYING EVERYTHING TO STOP ASTEROID HEADED STRAIGHT TOWARDS EARTH
August 18 2011
Paris, France – Mythology, religion, and fiction have all predicted and celebrated the end of time, the apocalypse, Armageddon and now it seems those predictions have finally come true. Scientists for the European Space Agency are planning a last-ditch effort to save all of humanity from destruction by launching a satellite at a nearby asteroid to see if it will alter course.
Well, the asteroid isn’t exactly headed towards us but if successful, the test will open up new options in dealing with such a rock when it does finally head our way, which most people believe will happen eventually. The test will slam the satellite into the side of test asteroid to see what impact it has on its course. If successful, it could be used to assault other, more threatening rocks. If not, we may be doomed.
“Our hope is that this test will push the asteroid just a few metres off course which is all he we need. Even a small change to its path will tell us that the technique is viable and can be used for other asteroids,” said a spokesperson for the agency. “Even a small shift is valuable. This is not like the movie where the rock needs to be destroyed. I mean that would be ideal, but that is not viable given our current technology.”
In the movie ‘Armageddon’ a group of deep sea drillers were sent to an asteroid to detonate it with a nuclear bomb. The effort was largely successful, though Bruce Willis did die at the climax. Willis is not involved with the current attempt.
“Ideally we would have giant laser cannons orbiting in space blowing apart these asteroids but that simply isn’t going to work quite yet. We need to have a practical and usable solution today so that we can protect the planet. Perhaps we will eventually have lasers, but not today,” continued the spokesperson. “If this technique is successful we will apply it to more threatening asteroids such as Apophis which very well could impact the planet in the next thirty years. That rock is our primary target.”
If many specific conditions are met, Apophis will impact the planet in 2036, killing millions.
“Preventing asteroid collisions has to be a priority for the world. These rocks slam into planets all the time, including ours, and we are long overdue. It is really just a matter of when not if and if we are unprepared we will all die, well at least a lot of us. Bruce Willis isn’t going to be around forever after all,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “There is a danger in slamming things into the side of the asteroid, the biggest of which is the unpredictability. We could very well end up in a situation where we push the asteroid in the wrong direction, or too far and simply speed up the process of entering a collision orbit and that would be no good, no good at all. In fact that would be the end of life as we know it so it’s kind of important that we get this right, otherwise things could get bad.”
Bruce Willis will be 81 in 2036.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
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