Too hot? Let's get away from the sun a bit

American astrophysicists claim that changing the Earth's orbit is a possible mission

A well-known anecdote tells of an astrophysicist who explained, in a lecture to the general public, that the sun will use up its energy resources in about 8 billion years, after which the existence of life in the solar system will not be possible. "When did you say it would happen?" shouted someone from the audience. "In about 8 billion years," repeated the scientist patiently. "For a moment I was scared, I thought you said 8 million", replied the listener.

Billions of years, billions of billions of stars, millions of light years: the routine magnitudes that astrophysicists deal with are for us almost unfathomable numbers. But the preoccupation with these enormous sizes is beginning to go beyond astronomical observations and astrophysical models of cosmic processes such as the expansion of the universe or the formation of stars. A good example of this is the developing field of "astronomical engineering" (or "astro-engineering"), which set itself a modest goal: to literally change the order of Genesis.

What is meant by? For example, to deliberately divert comets or asteroids from their orbits, for the benefit of humanity. Or, if that's not enough, changing the Earth's orbit to move it a little further from the Sun and thus extend the amount of time that conditions on our world will be life-supporting. Sound like a good idea for a science fiction story? Certainly, but this is exactly the topic of a scientific article published recently by the astrophysicists D. Kurisansky from the University of California, J. Leflin from NASA and P. Adams from the University of Michigan. The three outline a bold plan to change the orbits of the Earth and other planets, and claim that it is doable.

What is it good for? In the short term, it is enough if we think about global warming. Astro-engineering offers an ultimate solution to the problem: no more attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Are we too hot? Let's get away from the sun a bit. Will the climate warm up again? Let's go a little further.

Battle an asteroid in a controlled manner

But the astro-engineering thinking goes much further: to millions and billions of years in the future. The sun, thanks to whose radiation we exist, slowly (but surely) burns its fuel supply - hydrogen (which turns into helium in a continuous thermonuclear process). Eventually, in 8 billion years or a little more, the sun will "turn off" and become a "red giant" whose expansion will "swallow" the solar system. Until then, it will actually go through ages of increased light radiation: in about a billion years the intensity of the radiation will increase by 10% and in 3 billion years the radiation will increase by 40% compared to today. This means the end of all life forms, including insects and bacteria. A controlled increase in the radius of our world's orbit around the sun could extend the life of the Earth's biosphere by billions of years.

How do you do it? Korisansky and his fellow researchers have a detailed plan, calculated to the last detail. They suggest choosing a celestial body about a hundred kilometers long - one of the asteroids or comets that are abundant in the solar system - and deflect it towards Earth. Methods for making such a diversion have already been proposed in the past (for example with the help of nuclear missiles) to prevent a catastrophic collision of such an object with the Earth. This time it is actually a controlled approach of the asteroid to us, so that part of its momentum and energy will be transferred to the Earth. As a result, the Earth's orbital energy will increase and its orbital radius will increase.

After that, the asteroid will continue towards Jupiter, gravitational energy will be transferred to it from the giant planet, and when it approaches the Earth again, the process will repeat itself. Utilizing the gravitational energy of planets is a known technique that has already been applied in the past for the purpose of maneuvering the paths of research spacecraft towards distant planets.

This time the technique is applied not to a spacecraft, but to an asteroid of a suitable size. Thus, in a kind of clever cosmic "billiard game", it will be possible to change the paths and fate of worlds. The calculations show that in order to fully utilize the life of the sun to support life on Earth, it will be necessary to repeat these "track corrections" every 6,000 years - more than enough time to perfect the execution techniques.

And if they are changing the order of Genesis, the scientists are having fun with other fascinating possibilities inherent in the idea. With such a method, they write, it is possible to change the orbits of our neighboring worlds, such as Venus and Mars, and make it possible that their distance from the sun would allow the existence of life.

According to the three scientists, the method is completely applicable and involves the use of technologies that are "around the corner" - there is no need for a scientific breakthrough. But it should be done carefully. If a small mistake brings a giant that is 100 km long (and weighs 10 to the power of 16 tons) on a collision course with the Earth - woe betide us. A much smaller bone impact wiped the dinosaurs off the face of the earth about 65 million years ago, according to the accepted theories.

By the way, a few weeks ago scientists from the University of California presented a new theory, according to which what destroyed the dinosaurs was not a collision, but disturbances in the orbits of the Earth, Mars and Mercury, which occurred due to the passage of a large celestial body in the environment. Another good reason to be careful.