What to do to resist

Russian scientists make a proposal to set up an Organization with the same mission as in the science fiction film Armageddon, to deflect the universe of Apophis and other rocks flying in time, capable of colliding with the Earth caused a disaster, rumored to be the doomsday recorded in the Mayan calendar.

Prior to this proposal, the US National Research Council (National Research Council, abbreviated NRC) also responded by calling for the creation of an international group, which has a special mission to protect the Earth's Cosmic objects can cause major disasters.

NRC stresses the current situation is the lack of a preparation to deal with the giant rocks flying towards Earth. Observing the sky with existing techniques, until 2020, it is still not possible to detect 90% of the objects flying towards the 140m and larger Earth as Congress has assigned NASA to take charge of. this. The main problem is lack of funds.

Radio telescopes hunt down celestial bodies capable of detecting and achieving the survey objective, until it is possible to have it until 2022, with an investment of over $ 1 billion.

Even when scientists have discovered the dangers of small planets, there is no immediate countermeasure. The NRC also rejected previous proposals, from proposing the creation of 'gravitational tractors' to the proposed launch of controlled small space ships rushing into large cosmic rocks, assuming the That event occurred in the next decade. Only creating nuclear explosions is the current feasible measure to deal with the most dangerous threat in the form of space rocks larger than 1km in diameter.

The NRC's plan only mentions the threat of large rocks. They are interested in small meteorites that can damage areas, small areas on Earth that have not yet reached greater destructive range.