(Image Credit: Don Davis / NASA)
While there are currently no known asteroids threatening our home world (with the exception of Apophis which has a slim possibility of striking Earth in 2036) a few Jewish students from Technion have come up with another approach for dealing with these deadly space rocks.
(Israel National News) The students developed their plan in response to fears that an asteroid could collide with Earth in 2036, causing severe damage over an area with a 200-kilometer radius. The students proposed a $353 million plan that would send probes into space, where they would attach themselves to the asteroid and determine the risk of a collision. If the asteroid appeared to be on a collision course, a satellite would be sent into space and would, with help from Earth’s gravitational pull, steer the asteroid onto a different course.
Currently there are various ideas on how to deal with asteroids threats, although the most promising ones tend to avoid using nukes (as that could turn one incoming space rock into ten).
Hopefully NASA and other space agencies will consider ideas like these, as incoming space rocks from above is not something people would enjoy hearing about on the evening news.
Want more good news about Israel?
Enter your email address below to subscribe!
Have a feed reader? Subscribe via RSS or Atom. 
My idea is to put a rocket with lots of fuel on the asteroid and slow it down. If the asteroid speed is changed then its orbit would change. But use a lot of computer time to figure out what speed change you need to prevent the asteroid from hitting earth for at least 10K years if not forever. If slow enough could hit the sun and be drawn in by its gravity. The idea is to attach the rocket decades before it hits to start the slow down. Just a change in a few feet per minute after a number of years can make the difference from a direct hit to miss by a thousand miles.
ReplyDelete