Congress Hears Need for Asteroid Protection

Recently, a house committee on space was told that deflecting incoming asteroids depends on size, time, and distance. The President has recently put forth a plan to prevent asteroids from hitting the earth. He says we have the technical capability to deflect an asteroid away from the earth. Members of the committee were told that we have only discovered about ten percent of the asteroids big enough to impact Earth. Deflecting such asteroids depends on the time of first sighting and the time of projected impact on the earth's surface. It is easy, with the technology we have now, to analyze the threat level of the asteroid approaching the earth. After that asteroid is considered a threat, it can be followed, and we can determine the path it will take and the time it will take to get to Earth. If the time is short, they are saying we can use lasers to move the asteroid off the projected collision path. These lasers will work by shooting particles off of the asteroid. In doing so, it will work like an engine to propel the asteroid in another direction.

Personally, I do not believe we should be focusing funds to prevent asteroids from hitting the earth. I do not believe the technology is developed enough to even help us in such situations. Also, I feel this plan of attack will be extremely difficult to present to the public. It will cause concerns that people should not be having. Although there is a risk that Earth will be hit by an asteroid, I feel that we are way ahead of ourselves. Even if we could track them and somehow divert them, who is to say that the pieces of the asteroid we deflected will not strike another part of the earth after they are deflected? I feel this will cause panic in the public eye, and many people will not support paying money into a program that may be used once in our lifetime.

Article Link: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/