Astronauts urge U.N. to protect Earth from doomsday asteroids

Thursday, March 08, 2007 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: doomsday asteroid, astronauts, near-Earth asteroids

(NewsTarget) A group of former astronauts and cosmonauts is urging the United Nations to adopt procedures designed to protect the Earth from asteroid collisions. The Association of Space Explorers is currently most concerned about an asteroid named Apophis, which has a 1 in 45,000 chance of striking the Earth in the year 2036.

Jump directly to: conventional view | alternative view | bottom line

What you need to know - Conventional View

• Apophis, which is about 460 feet long, is being monitored by astronomers, who think it may strike the Earth on April 13, 2036.

• The U.S. Congress recently ordered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to upgrade its tracking of asteroids. This project is expected to discover hundreds or even thousands more asteroids in near space.

• The Association of Space Explorers is currently flushing out a proposed global asteroid response policy and will formally present it to the United Nations in 2009. The plan favors using a "Gravity Tractor" spacecraft to tug asteroids off a collision course from the planet. For an asteroid the size of Apophis, such a mission would take about 12 days and cost $300 million.

• Scientists say they cannot predict what the effects would be if Apophis collided with the Earth, because the effects depend on the asteroid's makeup and its angle of collision.

• Paul Slovic, president of the risk-analysis firm Decision Research, said the impact could destroy a city or region - far less devastation than that caused by the asteroid that is hypothesized to have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

• Quote: "It's not just Apophis we're looking at. Every country is at risk. We need a set of general principles to deal with this issue." - Former astronaut Rusty Schweickart

What you need to know - Alternative View

Statements and opinions by Mike Adams• Even though society works to protect itself against natural disasters on Earth, such as earthquakes, we neglect to consider the potentially catastrophic effects of dangers from space.

• NASA is not adequately monitoring the situation, and there is no global effort to collaborate on a response to this threat. Sooner or later, there will be an incident. It is wise to protect the Earth in advance of such threats by monitoring potential threats.

Bottom line

• The Association of Space Explorers wants the United Nations to adopt a policy for deflecting asteroids that may collide with the planet.