Earth faces an existential threat if NASA scientists are correct in assuming that an asteroid strike “is not that far away”. US space agency NASA’s head scientist Dr Jim Bridenstine recently issued his starkest warning yet – claiming the planet is “about to face its biggest threat from outer space”. And these doom-laden asteroid remarks have now been supported by renowned science personality Bill Nye.
Space scientists last week meet at the 2019 Planetary Defence Conference in Maryland.
The Earth is going to get hit with another big asteroid. The problem is, we don’t know when
Bill Nye
The biennial exercise has become a regular event among the international community of “planetary defence” experts.
This year, the conference role played and debated contingencies for combating an imminent asteroid impact and emergency evacuation plans.
Dr Bridenstine said: ““This is about ultimately protecting the only planet we know right now to host life, and that is the planet Earth.”
And the importance of preparing for an asteroid strike on Earth has been further underlined by former TV “science guy” Bill Nye.
Mr Nye, who currently heads the nonprofit Planetary Society, warned catastrophic asteroid impacts like the one that annihilated the dinosaurs 66 million years ago continue to pose a real risk.
Mr Nye said: ”The Earth is going to get hit with another big asteroid.
“The problem is, we don’t know when,” he added.
“It is a very low probability in anyone’s lifetime, but it is a very high-consequence event.
“If it happens, it would be like control-alt-delete for everything.”
However humans will not have to impassively have to and wait for armageddon to rain down on us, Mr Nye stressed.
Mankind can do something about the asteroid threat, and can start preparing for it now.
The first step is to find the dangerous asteroids – and NASA believes they have already discovered more than 90 percent of these near-Earth asteroids – at least 0.6 miles (1 km) wide.
And the good news is none of these enormous asteroids pose a threat for the foreseeable future.
But there are lots of undiscovered asteroids zooming through near-Earth space that could do serious damage on a local scale — capable of instantly killing millions.
So, it would behoove us to get some better detection tools online, Mr Nye added.
Such assistance is on its way, and soon, in the shape of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, an instrument about to start searching the sky from 2020.
And this telescope will likely be able to discover and catalog up to 90 percent of potentially hazardous asteroids at least 460 ft (140 m) wide.
And NASA is considering launching a dedicated asteroid-hunter called the Near-Earth Object Camera.
This proposed mission would scan for space rocks in infrared light, spotting their heat signatures in the darkness.
Coordination is the next step after detection, with the international community needing to work together to deal with an asteroid hurtling on a catastrophic collision course with Earth.
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