Innovation To Save Our Planet In 2036

 

     In January of 2011, when the tsunami hit Japan, a major asteroid hit Jupitor. The asteroid the size of the Titanic hit Jupiter with the force of 416,000 Hiroshima bombs. It was a surprise to scientists, when the event happened. It was a vivid reminder of our impending doom if we do nothing. In fact Science has deterimined one such asteroid could impact earth. Mark your calendar for Sunday, April 13, 2036. That's when a 1,000-foot-wide asteroid named Apophis could hit the Earth with enough force to obliterate a small state.

     The press was taken back when President Obama announced that he was changing the agenda of landing on the moon to the challenging task of boarding an asteroid in 2025. 

     In 2005 NASA successfully crashed a comet with a spacecraft to move an asteroid from a path that could intercept the earth in the future.The space probe named the"impactor" collided with Comet Tempel 1 at a relative speed of 37,000km/h, pictured below.

There are 10 things NASA is investigating for innovative solutions to this problem. Here are the ten ideas:

1. Nuke it.

2. Sent out mirror arrays to heat up the surface and change its path.

3. Strap rockets to it.

4. Send robots to chew and throw pieces of rock from the asteroid causing thrust like strapping a rocket yet using less fuel.

5. Shoot something at it to  give it a love tap to move it like a large cannon ball!

6. A huge net that could act as a solar sail and change the direction. 

7. Tow it with gravity.

8. Hook huge solar sails to it, then move it and it can be remotely moved to change its direction.

9. Paint the one side of the asteroid to had the dark side reflect and be moved by the heat of the sun.

10. We can dig in like cockroaches into the earth and let it hit.

Read in detail the innovative ideas:  Save the earth! 

Other sources: When is it coming?

Still more: Crashing NASA probes on purpose.

President Obama's plan: The new challenge.

Jupiter's visitor: Wow!