Asteroids threaten the planet

Every century, an asteroid falls with a diameter of up to several tens of meters. The consequences of such a movement can be catastrophic, but science is not yet able to predict them.

For example, on June 14, an asteroid about 100 meters long flew past the earth at a distance of 120 thousand kilometers (this is less than a third of the distance from the Earth to the Moon).

The most amazing was not how close the asteroid passed from the Earth, but the fact that its passage was marked only on June 17, three days after he almost touched our planet. This oversight is explained by the fact that the programs for detecting potentially dangerous space objects are equipped with too weak equipment: only objects with a diameter of up to 1 kilometer fall into the observation sector.

According toLe Monde , the translation of the article published by Inopressa.ru , the 2002 MN asteroid took second place in the list of objects that flew from the ground, after another asteroid 1994XM1, which flew on December 9, 1994 at 105 thousand kilometers.

The flight of cars within the Earth is an ordinary business. June 24, 10 days after the flight of 2002 MN, 1.9 million km from the Earth passed an asteroid 2002LZ45. Scientists know that on July 25 at 20:34, asteroid 2000RN5 will pass from the Earth in the Middle European time at 1.7 million km.

According to statistics, an asteroid with a diameter of up to several tens of meters falls every century. Larger objects, up to 1-2 km in diameter that can cause huge damage and lead to the consequences of a planetary scale, fall 1-2 times a million years. And even more serious cataclysms, which, for example, led to the disappearance of dinosaurs of 65 million years on Earth, occur once every 100 million years.

To inform, and not to scare the public, the International Astronomical Union created a special working group, which developed a risk scale called the Turin scale. Having data on the orbit of an asteroid, speed and mass, astronomers can calculate its trajectory for decades ahead and evaluate it on a Turin scale, which is fucked from a unit to 10.

The object placed in the zero, white zone has no chance to reach the ground. If an asteroid is placed in the eighth zone, then it will undoubtedly fall to the ground, and the effect of its fall can be compared with a powerful earthquake. The asteroid of the 9th zone will lead to the consequences of a planetary nature. And the situation with an asteroid from the 10th zone is comparable to the end of the era of dinosaurs, with the mass extinction of entire animal species.

Up to two thousand objects have already been identified. 99% of them are placed in the white area. Only two objects are introduced into the first, green zone, when there is the most insignificant chance of a collision with the ground. The first, with a diameter of 1.5 km, will fly near the land in 2030, the second (230m) in 2101.

Now scientists are working on a problem that may occur with the probability of a collision with an asteroid from the red zone. If the alarm sounds with delay, then you will have to evacuate people from the danger zone, or the earthlings will have several decades to respond properly.

In 2001, three American scientists proposed two possible solutions: to change the orbit or destroy the car, but the destruction of the object entails the danger of a multiple increase in the threat.

The most effective response to the danger that has arisen is a change in the orbit of killer asteroid. Many options are proposed: to use a spacecraft in the role of a pusher, to make an atomic bomb explosion in the immediate vicinity of the asteroid (in this case, there is a danger of crushing it into many fragments) or, following the script of the American Joseph Spytel, change the color of the asteroid to change its temperature and, as a result, the trajectory. The only drawback of this soft and environmental option is that its implementation will take a whole century or even more.