Though it may seem rather unlikely, we're always threatened by the possibility of an asteroid coming against us. Expert foresee indeed a crash of a massive asteroid in 2040. February, 5, to be more precise. Fortunately, we already have at least 5 rough game plans on how to deal with the threat of near earth asteroids. Some of them seem realistic whereas other actually look like they were taken from a science fiction film or thought up by mad people.
The first one is to do the job it in a dramatic way: nuking it, which means using nuclear weapons that though not destroying the object itself, it will at least deflect it. This may sound overreacting, and it is, so there is another way to solve the problem by deflecting. This consists on hitting the mentioned asteroid long before it approaches our planet, a dwarf change would entail an enormous deviation when it approached.
The third one is easy: painting it. Despite the scepticism about this measure, painting a meteorite in light colours would prompt that a part would feel more "push" from solar radiation, providing a slight nudge to push it gradually off. The next one is one of the most realistic ones in spite of the development it requires. Nevertheless, the mechanism is quite simple, the idea is to trap it in a sort of net. And last but not least, by focusing solar radiation with mirrors on a point, the meteorite would melt and deviate.
The recent news of the possibility of a asteroid hitting the Earth in 30 years has sparked polemic off once more. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that 2011 AG5 is "high on NASA's list of NEOs to monitor for impact hazard potential," adding that "we take these duties very seriously." Bolden also remarked that the asteroid makes an apparition in 2015, more than seven years before the close keyhole passage in 2023 that could set in motion an Earth impact in the 2040 time frame.
Via | Discovery
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