66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, the collision of Earth and the asteroid Chicxulub from space led to the extinction of dinosaurs and many other animals on Earth. So if the Earth once again collides with an asteroid, what can humans do to combat that dire scenario?
How dangerous is an asteroid?
It is estimated that meteorites with a diameter of more than 400m can harm the Earth. And the asteroid most likely to collide with Earth currently is Bennu. This asteroid has a 1/2700 chance of hitting Earth on September 21, 2135.
According to NASA, this asteroid is about 535m in diameter and weighs more than 79 million tons (much smaller than Chicxulub at 12km in size) and will kill billions of people, wiping out most of life on Earth if it hits. touch.
How many ways are there to prevent this disaster from happening?
There are two options that have been proposed: Deflect or destroy the meteorite. The most powerful weapon of mankind today, the atomic bomb, is not enough to destroy a meteorite about 400m in size, but can only break it into many pieces and these fragments if not destroyed by the Earth’s atmosphere. Burned earth will plunge to Earth at speeds exceeding the speed of sound 40-50 times and the destructive power is no different from atomic bombs.
Smashing asteroids is no different from suicide.
Therefore, there is only one way to change the direction of the meteorite. Scientists have not been able to find a solution to this problem, but there are some solutions, but it is still very difficult to completely prevent disaster:
- Changing the orbit of meteorites with gravity ships: Both gravity ships and meteorites have gravity. So if we realize that a meteorite has the potential to collide with Earth, we will launch a spacecraft close to the meteorite, orbiting it for a long time to change the direction of the meteorite.
- Sun Mirrors: Launching giant mirrors into space and strategically placed to focus sunlight on part of the meteorite causing it to evaporate and create a force that affects the orbit of the sun. meteorite.
In general, humans have not been able to prevent a Meteor from hitting the Earth at present and if that really happens, perhaps we will become dinosaur version 2.0.