Devastation

Report Calls for More Asteroid Protection
Reuters, September 18, 2000

It wiped out the dinosaurs 65 millions years ago and only happens every 100,000 years, but British scientists said Monday it is now time to take steps to protect Earth from a major asteroid strike. “These impacts are of low frequency but high consequences,” said Professor David Williams, a former president of the Royal Astronomical Society. “The risk is very real, very tiny and we need to do something about it,” he told a news conference. Williams and other members of the Task Force on Near-Earth Objects have urged Britain to spearhead an international effort to monitor comets and asteroids to reduce the risk of a devastating collision. In a report released Monday, the task force appointed by Science Minister Lord Sainsbury in January listed a series of recommendations to reduce the odds of a collision that could kill millions of people. “No known asteroid or comet is likely to hit Earth in the next 50 years but there are many we do not know about,” said Dr Harry Atkinson, who led the task force.

The heart of the proposed early warning system is a new telescope to be built in the southern hemisphere to survey smaller objects than those usually observed by other telescopes. The telescope would cost an estimated $21 million and the entire project, which involves the use of other telescopes, space missions, monitoring and an asteroid defense center, could run into billions. Lord Sainsbury said: “This is such an obviously international situation that it very much one where the international community should work together.”

Near-Earth objects can range from pebble size to a something resembling a mountain. The bigger the object the smaller the risk there is of it colliding with Earth. Hollywood blockbusters “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon” have raised public awareness of the dangers of near-miss encounters. The British proposal wants to make sure it never happens. A collision with a large asteroid 0.6 miles in diameter could kill a quarter of the world's population. The warning system would allow scientists to monitor asteroids and if a collision is likely populations could be evacuated or the object could be deflected with a missile. The U.S. space agency NASA is already monitoring the skies for objects greater than one kilometer in diameter. Congress wants NASA to detect at least 90 percent of all near-Earth objects that size within 10 years. The British proposal will search the skies for smaller but potentially dangerous objects. Scientific evidence suggests a huge asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. Experts believe that up to 10,000 football-sized asteroids his Earth every year but most go unnoticed.