New York – The New York University Department of Research has published a study that recounts that all mass extinctions that have happened in the planet Earth history have occurred because of a comet or asteroid strike. Therefore, the team behind the investigative work is warning about how the world is still unprepared for a new incident of that kind.
The research started a year ago, and its findings were published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The main claim is the lack of technological equipment, data, and resources that the human species still faces a future astronomic clash threat. In regards to this information, Joseph Nuth, from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, brought the alarm to a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, a nonprofit organization of geophysicists that focuses on the organization and diffusion of scientific information in the interdisciplinary and international field of geophysics.
There is a way out, possibly
He said time was the principal ally the human species could have to prepare for an adverse event like a comet strike. Therefore, it is crucial to direct efforts to that area before it is too late. His concrete proposal was to build many spacecraft as soon as possible. The first one is called The Observer, which would be launched to the space to explore and be vigilant of potential space threats, identify them, and report them. The other device is called The Interceptor, which would deflect comets and other space bodies that The Observer considers a grave danger. For the deflection task, The Interceptor has to carry a nuclear bomb needed to exterminate the problem.
Another response to a space threat could be lasers. Laser rays blasting powerfully from a particular distance can also deflect a comet, vaporizing parts of its surface or taking it out of its orbit.
Qicheng Zhang, a scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his group of researchers carried a study with computer simulations on the lasers space force and came to the conclusion that the same ground-based laser system that engineers plan for the Breakthrough Starshot project would be capable of deflecting some comets. The Starshot Project is being carried out by big names like famous physician and scientist, Stephen Hawkin, FacebookCEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. It aims to use a giant laser placed on our planet to push a fleet of nano spacecraft to nearly the speed of light and visit the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri.
In response to the lightening of this information, NASA has claimed there’s only 0.01 percent an asteroid will impact Earth in the next 100 years. Nevertheless, the US space agency discovers around five new asteroids every night, making space for the possibility of a billion more being undiscovered out there.
“The biggest problem, basically, is there’s not a hell of a lot we can do about it at the moment. So how can mankind prepare for the worst possible for of Earth Apocalypse when the agency in charge on it does not even have a single idea on what to do if it happens?” said Nuth on the matter, according to Science Alert
Source: HEALTHAIM