Two NASA astronauts have announced a plan to redirect an asteroid that poses a threat of collision with Earth. Edward Lu and Stanley Love propose sending a large rocket to “clear away” any such object.
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The idea of using a rocket to “pull” an asteroid off its trajectory towards Earth |
This type of rocket would simply orbit the asteroid and use gravitational force as a “tether“, pulling it away from the danger zone.
Over a period of about one year of “herding“, a 20-ton spacecraft could alter the course of a 200-meter diameter asteroid, Lu and Love explained.
Scientists believe that if an asteroid of this size were to collide with our planet, it would cause widespread destruction and result in significant loss of life.
Lu and Love noted that it would be very challenging to attach a spacecraft to the surface of a rough, rocky object to push it in the correct direction. Therefore, they suggest that the spacecraft could simply use the gravitational attraction between itself and the asteroid to gently pull this threat into a safe orbit.
The concept is currently being showcased at an exhibition at the Science Museum in London.
“This is an incredibly interesting idea, not just a scene from Hollywood or the thoughts of a theoretical scientist. It is real science from experienced astronauts who can turn a fundamental scientific principle into an experiment of global significance,” a member of the exhibition team stated.
T. An (according to BBC)
