Just in time: Scientists propose vaporizing asteroids
DE-STAR’s capability would increase with size.
(Credit: University of California, Santa Barbara)
The sky is totally falling.
As if it weren’t enough that a meteor boomed across the Russian sky today, shattering windows and injuring about 1,000 people, an asteroid 150 feet across is about to sideswipe our planet.
Asteroid 2012 DA14, while unrelated to the meteor, is just as scary. It will graze us at just 17,200 miles from the surface, passing between Earth and our geosynchronous weather and communications satellites.
Possible asteroid strikes are no joke, and if you ask me (or the dinosaurs), they represent the biggest threat to our planet aside from human stupidity.
Fortunately, some non-stupid humans are finally getting serious about countering this threat.
Two California scientists are proposing a system that could eliminate threats the size of 2012 DA14 in an hour, or even asteroids 10 times larger in about a year.
Related stories
- Injury count rises for Russian meteorite
- … [Read more]
Related Links:
Odds of dying from an asteroid strike: 1 in 74,817,414
Congress to hold hearings about killer asteroids
Europe’s space agency kicks off asteroid collision mission
Double asteroid trouble may have wiped out dinosaurs
Injury count rises for Russian meteorite