by Cyrus Dehkan

Created on: March 04, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

We've always known in the back of our heads, that asteroid impact on earth has happened in the past. After all the extinction of the dinosaurs most likely occurred when a large asteroid fell into the Yucatan peninsula, changing the earths atmosphere for years. Also recent asteroid impacts in Arizona and Siberia show that these occurrences are not as remote as we believed they were. It was the Comet Shoemaker-Levy slammed into Jupiter in 1994, that actually prompted Congress to act. An initiative was launched to map out every bit of harmful debris and objects that could impact earth. By the year 2009 NASA will have charted 90% of all floating objects that could affect the earth.

It was in 2004 that NASA found a rogue asteroid, that they name Apophis, that had the potential to be on a collision course with earth by the year 2029. Precise calculations have been made and it has been determined that it will miss us by a mere 20000 miles. Further study showed that after 2029, this asteroid has the potential to return back toward us and possibly threaten us for a 2nd time in 2036.Again calculations show that a direct hit is unlikely, but still isn't out of the question.
So what would we do if an asteroid were to threaten the earth. Obviously an direct hit could be catastrophic. Two real possibilities exist. One is to send up an explosive and blow it apart. Of course this might create many little asteroids. This could create multiple impact zones. The 2nd solution would be to send up an object to deflect it out of the way. A recent proposal would be to send up an appropriately sized object and bring it up to the asteroid, to create a gravitational tractor pull. Given sufficient time this pull could deflect the asteroid onto a different path and help to miss the earth. of course this is a very expensive alternative and one that will need further study.
Besides research, a worldwide body, consisting of scientists needs to be formed to make decisions regarding these asteroids. Only further study and planning will help us avert a disaster.

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