Will asteroids wreak havoc on future Mars settlers?
Craters on Mars suggest the planet takes quite a beating. (University of Arizona/HiRISE-LPL /)In December 2018, a 33-foot-wide meteor exploded over the Bering Sea. In June 2018, a smaller meteor, about 9- to 12-feet wide, exploded over Botswana and rained meteorites onto the desert. In 2013, a 60-foot meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, with a shockwave strong enough to destroy buildings and injure more than a thousand people. This kind of airblast only occurs about once or twice per century. Even more rarely do asteroids make it to the ground in a large enough piece to leave a crater. But it’s hard to know for sure: 90% of meteorites impact Earth’s surface in an unpopulated area, according to Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer. Before the century is out, humanity hopes to travel to the Moon and Mars. Those future astronauts will face many risks, like radiation poisoning, isolation, communication delays,...