Every way devised to deflect an asteroid
Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 09:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
With asteroid 2005 YU55 passing close by Earth yesterday, this rather unsettlingly near flyby has many people wondering if we would be able to divert an asteroid that was heading for an intersection with Earth in its orbit. Of course, as natural disasters go an asteroid strike on Earth would be extremely bad. Even relatively small space rocks could wipe millions of people off the face of the planet, and for the really big asteroids like the one that caused the Chicxulub event 65 million years ago its unlikely that humanity would survive. And yet, for all their devastation, asteroids offer a glimmer of hope. An asteroid strike is preventable, given we have the time to deal with it.