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What happens when a meteor is on a collision course with Earth

There are many research groups, scientists, and schools, which receive untold millions of dollars each year from the federal government, in order to continue with their pursuit of whatever truth is eluding them. Some of them receive twenty million dollars a year to research things like hereditary baldness. But somehow the government seems to have turned a blind eye to some of the really important things that are being researched.

For instance: Only four million dollars a year is given to the small group of scientists who are working on identifying, mapping, and tracking all near-earth orbital meteors. All of these have the potential to cross paths with the earth at any time, and as far as they can tell they have only identified somewhere around 60% of these potentially serious threats to life on earth. One scientist described it as if space were a highway with no on or off ramps, only crossroads, and we (earth) are hurtling down the highway with no brakes and all the crossroads are being crossed by meteors at high speeds. The fortunate thing is that we seem to have managed to avoid being at the same intersection as any large meteors. But how long will our luck hold out?
The same four million also has to be divided with the even smaller group who is studying how to avert disaster in the event that one of these meteors should head for earth. Contrary to popular belief we cannot just blow them up with nukes, or shoot them with missiles to divert them. Either of these options would only cause them to be blown into many pieces which would then reform into a large grouping of meteors, which could actually be worse than just one hitting us. The gravity that each large meteor has of its own, would hold the pieces in close formation until it neared the earth's atmosphere, where they would scatter and rain down thousands of huge meteors over a large portion of the globe.
The main program operating at this time on how to prevent a cataclysmic meeting with a meteor is a comet rendezvous program. Scientists in California are building two space vehicles, which are being created to meet up with a specific near-earth orbit comet when it reaches its closest point in a year or so. The mother ship is a flyby ship and the smaller secondary ship will actually impact the comet, driving deep into its core. Scientists are hoping that as the mother ship flies by and records the data that the smaller ship send out when it flies head on into the comet, will give them an idea of what the


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

What happens when a meteor is on a collision course with Earth

  • 1 of 4

    by Vicki Phipps

    An impact event is what happens when a meteor is on a collision course with earth, and impact events can cause massive loss

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  • 2 of 4

    by Tenebris

    Earth has been hit by meteors many times in its history. In fact, earth is hit by meteors many times each and every day,

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  • 3 of 4

    by Joel Stottlemire

    There seems to be a perception in the community that the Earth would somehow be better off being struck by an icy comet rather

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  • 4 of 4

    by Cerys Tyler

    There are many research groups, scientists, and schools, which receive untold millions of dollars each year from the federal

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