British scientists are calling for the establishment of a defense system against asteroids
An award-winning team of British scientists recently recommended that Britain take the lead in a project to protect Earth's inhabitants from the threat of murderous asteroids. This is reported by the "Washington Post" newspaper. According to the team of scientists, the American space agency is not showing sufficient determination in dealing with the danger.
A recent report by the "Task Force on Near Celestial Bodies Endangering the Earth" calls for investing up to 100 million dollars in an asteroid defense system, including a master plan similar to plans for the military's anti-missile defense systems, and an early detection network combined with several measures said to stop the the looming threat.
"This is not science fiction," British Science Minister Lord Sainsbury told The Washington Post, who expressed his support for the report's findings and promised that the government would act to implement it. "The risk is very small," he added, "but real. We invested a lot of money in astronomy. It makes sense to invest a little more to make sure we know if there is any danger of an object hitting our planet."
Asteroids and their smaller cousins, comets, are flying chunks of debris left over from the formation of the Solar System about 4.5 billion years ago. Some of them are huge. When they hit Earth, the results can be disastrous. It is speculated that a single asteroid, which struck 65 million years ago where Mexico is today, destroyed most life on Earth.
The British team warned that "the Earth is surrounded by a sea of asteroids". One of the problems is that astronomers do not know the dimensions of this sea. The report indicates that it is possible that up to 2,000 space grams with a diameter exceeding one kilometer cross the Earth's orbit. The report warns that the impact of one such object could destroy a quarter of the Earth's population.
But while the damage may be enormous, the actual risk is minimal. Asteroids do not hit Earth very often. "We are talking about once every 100 years when it comes to major events," said the British Science Minister. Despite this, the conclusion of the report is that the potential damage is so great that precautionary measures must be taken.
The British report reinforces the conclusions of several studies published by NASA in recent years. Following pressure from Congress, the American space agency promised in 1995 to identify all dangerous space objects within ten years. NASA currently spends about two million dollars a year for this mission, but is not meeting its original schedule. This is the main reason the British team decided to push forward.
The British report calls for the construction of new telescopes, in particular in the southern hemisphere, where the number of astronomical facilities is smaller than in the northern hemisphere. The team also recommended immediately allocating $24 million to build a new three-meter telescope somewhere south of the equator. The team also proposed launching Spaceguard satellites to warn of impending danger.
Taking these steps and constant vigilance, the report states, will make it possible to identify an asteroid speeding toward the Earth a year, a decade, or even a hundred years before the impact date. Instead of sitting idly by and waiting for extermination, the team suggests that humans act to destroy or divert the unwanted visitor from its path. The report does not provide specific details, but American nuclear scientist Edward Teller suggested using nuclear bombs in space to divert an asteroid from a collision course with Earth.
Lucy McFadden, an expert from the University of Maryland on the issue of near-Earth space objects, told The Washington Post: "I think the British are absolutely right that we need to locate these space objects and check what's out there. This field is real. On the other hand, if you calculate the numbers, the probability that an asteroid will hit the Earth is very small."
{Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 19/10/2000{
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