Intercepting Asteroids to Avoid Armageddon

Potential asteroid impact on Earth can have disastrous consequences. In order to prevent such collisions, earthbound space objects must be deflected. This can be accomplished using a space probe to impact the asteroid.

65 million years ago, Earth was ravaged by tsunamis, a huge dust cloud darkened the skies and acid rain fell on plants and animals. These events marked the latest mass extinction and the creeping end for more than 50 percent of all species on Earth. Not even the dinosaurs would survive this apocalypse. These events were most likely caused by an asteroid approximately 10 kilometers across that impacted Earth in the area of today's Gulf of Mexico, scarring the planet's surface with a crater over 170 kilometers wide. Is this scenario unthinkable today? To date, astronomers have identified almost 10,000 asteroids with an orbit that approaches or crosses Earths' orbit -- and the number is growing. Last February, a meteorite injured almost 1500 people when it exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, with a population of over a million. At a diameter of some 20 meters, the meteorite had a weight of 10,000 tons.