The decipherment of the 'space death' caused the Earth to fall into ruin: Scientists crazy!

The giant meteorite attacks the Earth unexpectedly: This is the risk from space that makes the science world "crazy" most.

On December 18, 2018, above the Bering Sea (north Pacific) only 25.7 km from the sea, a meteorite explosion emits 10 times the energy of the US atomic bomb thrown at the city. Hiroshima (Japan, 1945).

No one heard or witnessed this meteorite explosion, except for the US Air Force military satellite. Realizing that the unusual light in the Pacific, the US military satellite captured the image and sent it to NASA for analysis shortly after.

According to NASA data, this 10-meter-but-1,400-ton meteorite rushes into the Earth's atmosphere at a rate of 115,872 km / h. After the explosion, the meteorite emitted a tremendous amount of energy, amounting to 173,000 tons of TNT (Forbes data) , equal to about 40% of the energy of the meteorite explosion that once rocked the Russian city of Chelyabinsk (2013).

NASA assesses that a meteorite exploded on December 18, 2018, the second most powerful space object to explode in the Earth's atmosphere in the past 30 years (behind a meteorite of 20 meters in the explosion. Chelyabinsk jelly).

Lindley Johnson, NASA's planetary expert, told the BBC that such a powerful explosion meteorite event occurs very rarely, only a few times every 100 years.

The three questions are: Why don't we know anything about this 1,400-ton meteorite occurrence? And why until the middle of March 2019, after 3 months of occurrence, the international press (CNN, Forbes, The Guardian .) informed the public about the second powerful meteorite explosion in history 30 years back here? Does humanity fall into the destruction of meteorites?

No one witnessed

Sciencealert analyzes, if the meteorite explosion of 12/2018 occurred above a city - like the Chelyabinsk meteorite explosion in southwestern Russia in February 2013 - we will witness and hear it clearly. time of explosion.

But because the 1,400-ton meteorite exploded above the distant Bering Sea, the event was unnoticed for more than three months until all details were released by NASA at the Planetary and Planetary Science Conference. The 50th moon takes place in Texas state (USA) from March 18 to 22, 2019.

Danger from space

The Solar System is filled with remnants of material from the formation of planets. Most of them are "locked up" in stable containers such as asteroid belt, Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, and Oort Cloud - very far from Earth.

The Solar System is filled with remnants of material from the formation of planets.Illustration

However, these areas contain gas, meteorites, comets . that constantly shoot objects into interplanetary space. Therefore, our Solar System is flooded with cosmic debris from small dust particles to comets and asteroids of kilometers in diameter.

NASA said, the space debris "attacks" the Earth's atmosphere and the surface of the Moon occurs all the time. However, most of them are harmless, only 30m-diameter minimum objects that explode in the Earth's atmosphere are likely to cause serious damage to our planet.

The scar of the Earth

Earth's history witnessed many meteorites exploding, causing "scars" to exist today. The biggest, most devastating effect is meteorite that landed on Earth 65 million years ago, causing the dinosaurs to completely extinct.

3 biggest space explosions in modern Earth history.Data: Forbes.

In addition, smaller collisions also have obvious consequences: It is the Tunguska Event in Siberia (Russia) in 1908. Although the scientist still has many doubts about the origin of the explosion however, the consequences of The explosion equivalent to 10-15 million tons of TNT is extremely terrible: Flattening about 80 million trees on an area of ​​1,994 km2.

Particularly the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteorite explosion injured 1,500 people and about 7,000 buildings were damaged, unfortunately no one died.

How can the scientific world help?

NASA said, the agency does not miss any space events that impact more or less on the safety of the Earth.

For decades, NASA and international scientists have collaborated to carry out the mission to Observe the Dangerous Hidden Space Objects for Earth (PHOs) to make predictions, the best preventive measures.

However, the universe always has hidden risks, beyond the anticipation and control of scientists, that the meteorite explosion above the Bering Sea is an example.

This is the risk of making the "most crazy" science world when large meteors can still "attack" the Earth without any warning being given!

Alan Harris, a senior scientist from the German Aerospace Center, told Space.com : Of the thousands of people known close to Earth, there are more than 1,700 asteroids / asteroids. considered likely to endanger our planet.

Why not "control your own destiny"?

Jonti Horner Astrophysics Professor, University of Southern Queensland (Australia), author of this paper, said: Instead of being passive, people have another way to protect themselves against meteors.

It is approaching the asteroid / asteroid and deflecting its path from Earth!

The Hayabusa, Hayabusa 2 spacecraft missions of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA's OSIRIS-REx * spacecraft (launched in September 2016) are trying to make this seemingly unthinkable .

NASA and JAXA deploy the technologies needed to collect materials from asteroids, bring them to Earth to study, and then take appropriate measures to change the asteroid's trajectory, reducing the risk. "attack" their Earth in the future.

It is expected that by 2020, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA will join hands in implementing the Asteroid Impact Assessment (AIDA) mission. AIDA aims to test whether a spacecraft can successfully divert an asteroid during a collision with the Earth.

Professor Jonti Horner added, the exploration of asteroids is well-suited to the potential to exploit rare and precious minerals in space, allowing people to set up "space stations" to explore deeper space. Future.

Although NASA's OSIRIS-REx has not yet reached its destination, the mission opens up the possibility of "controlling one's own destiny" against the huge asteroid / asteroid threat.

Earlier, world experts listed giant meteorites "attacking" the Earth as one of the dangers of eradicating life on Earth, along with nuclear war, climate change, and plague. great.

Note :

(*) The mission of OSIRIS-REx is to study asteroids 101955 Bennu, a carbon asteroid, and bring specimens from this asteroid to Earth in 2023 for detailed research.

Research by Jonti Horner Astrophysics Professor, University of South Queensland (Australia) / Source: Sciencealert