Researchers plan for global Armageddon threats
It’s no ordinary meeting when a bad decision could spell global catastrophe.
For the experts assembled at a conference hall in Italy this spring, the choices were agonizing. A gigantic space rock was bearing down on Earth. If it slammed into the planet, it could damage an area the size of Ireland. But a campaign to push the rock, known as an asteroid, off course could shatter it, possibly widening the devastation, if not done correctly.
The officials opted to shift the monster’s path, and it prevented unfathomable devastation. There was just one problem: A chunk of the asteroid broke away and made a beeline for Bangladesh.
The looming space rock was imaginary — and utterly realistic. Researchers crafted every last detail of the scenario, which was unveiled at a scientific meeting to test how the world would respond to an incoming asteroid.
While it may sound like science fiction, real researchers are designing asteroid deflection tools and sketching out rocket missions to large space rocks. A pair of telescopes set to come online by the end of 2015 will give humanity a last-minute alert of an invader headed our way.
“People are starting to realize that it’s not just a totally stupid idea that an asteroid might cause big damage,” says the University of Hawaii’s John Tonry, head of the late-alert telescopes.
As if to prove the point, a space rock exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013, shattering thousands of windows. Yet the Chelyabinsk asteroid, at 55 to 65 feet, was a trifle. More than 600,000 asteroids that swing close to Earth are 150 feet wide or bigger — big enough to destroy New York City in a direct hit.
If something big does come this way, researchers are working on the “death ray” technique, as it was dubbed on Twitter. Still in early testing, it would send a spaceship to aim lasers at an asteroid’s surface. The jet of vaporized debris would propel the rock out of its original path. There’s also the Hypervelocity Asteroid Intercept Vehicle, which would carry a nuclear bomb to shatter the asteroid.
Nudging asteroids off course could be effective as well, if there’s plenty of warning. For this method, a spaceship slams into the asteroid at more than 20,000 mph, pushing it onto a new path. A ship too small or slow would botch the job, so researchers have been working to predict how a collision affects rocks of different shapes and compositions.