What do people do before falling from the sky?

The Earth has been falling many times by the sky rocks, causing serious consequences. In the future, how will this possibility recur? How to protect people from such incalculable dangers?

In 1994, the star of Shoemaker Broom struck Pluto. The terrible impact of the impact is compared to the impact of the big bullets of the earth on the planet. This shock caused scientists to worry about a similar incident that might happen to our planet. But at a distance of 2 million light-years, the collision would occur after five billion years. There is only one danger left from asteroids and comets, with countless rocks and blocks of frozen dust.

The Shoemaker Brush was taken in 1994 from the Hubble telescope (Photo: mjj.hu)

In June 2002, the 2002MN asteroid passed through the earth at a speed of 38,000 km / hr, only 120,000km from the planet's surface (equivalent to 1/3 of the distance from the earth to the moon). The threat from the sky is not only on movies but reality.

The Spaceguard Foundation, launched in 1996, is responsible for detecting all asteroids that could be dangerous . According to the latest records, there are at least 1,200 sky stones with a diameter greater than 1 km that can hover near the earth, and at least 200,000 sky stones with a diameter of over 100m. However, because telescopes are hard to detect objects with a diameter less than 300m, the figure may be much higher.

To find out more about the wandering heavenly rocks, before they can fall on human heads, nothing is better than approaching them for consideration. In February 2000, the Near Shoemaker American probe flew in orbit around the asteroid Eros conducting research throughout its five surfaces, orbit, size, composition and magnetic field before landing. asteroid in February 2001. The Japanese exploration ship Hayabusa, launched in 2003, passed the 2 billion km route to the Itokawa asteroid. The ship left the asteroid in 2005 and returned to Earth in 2007.

One of the reasons people care about asteroids, besides that they are a potential threat to the earth, they also have valuable information about the formation of the solar system. The fact that the asteroid's belt contains matter cannot be combined to form a planet.

Every year, thousands of tons of meteors fall to the earth. Although it is impossible to predict the exact time, humans can also calculate the impact of collisions. Often plunged to Earth at speeds of 50,000 to 100,000 km / hr, an asteroid with a diameter of only 5m when touching the ground is enough to cause an energy source equivalent to an atomic bomb; With a diameter of 50m, it was like 1,000 atomic bombs exploding.

American exploration ship Near Shoemaker (Photo: Nasa)

According to calculations, the earth will experience an object from the sky falling down from 1 to 2km in diameter. A collision is likely to kill most people, at least 1.5 billion people. Surely that happened 65 million years ago, destroying dinosaurs.

For scientists, the problem is: in the case of danger, do people need to inform the public about the risk of a global disaster? And notice at any time? For example, in 2000, the world press predicted a collision could happen in 2030. However, astronomers' results later confirmed that this horrific incident would not happen. out.

Research and danger detection is great. But what do people do when they discover a mass of meteors rushing towards the earth? If its diameter is less than 300m, just evacuate the population is enough. What is the bigger case? Can humans deflect asteroids with atomic bombs aimed at it? The answer is yes, but it is very dangerous, because the fragments of the broken stone, fired from the radioactive explosion, risk falling to the earth and causing more damage.

Furthermore, it was calculated that if the meteorite was a solid mass of 1.5 km long, a rocket launched at 15,000km / hr only destroyed 10% of the rock mass, and only deflected one A little bit, making it still capable of hitting the earth. In all cases, humans accurately calculated the itinerary of asteroids or Comets with orbits that often pass through the earth. If a danger is found in the future, people can first put a probe to study the chemical composition, shape, structure . and then find the direction. to handle.

In addition to the solution to explode dangerous meteorites, the researchers also offer another solution: deflect them. To do this, scientists give a lot of ideas, and there are some very practical ideas. For example, humans can fire an atomic bomb near the rock. X-rays disperse into the powder part of the rock, while the other part of it will be pushed back into space.

Another idea : a drill will be put on a meteorite. This machine will dig and throw crumbs into space. When it becomes lighter, the meteorite will change direction. Or the idea of ​​melting the stone thanks to a laser beam or a solar space oven that turns the asteroid into a space machine thanks to the thrust of a probe plugged into it; Deflect asteroids with a different asteroid by attaching a missile to this asteroid .

With these solutions, humanity hopes to save the earth from peril.

Chi Hieu