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In the future, humanity will have only itself to blame if an asteroid destroys it

There is a scenario for the downfall of earthly civilization for which humans would bear no responsibility.

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In the future, humanity will have only itself to blame if an asteroid destroys it

There is a scenario for the downfall of earthly civilization for which humans would bear no responsibility. If a huge chunk of rock flies towards the earth from the depths of space and hits it, the basis of life for all of humanity could be destroyed in one fell swoop. Mankind is helplessly at the mercy of such an event - that was the case 100 years ago and it is still the case today.

The only difference is that today, thanks to powerful telescopes and astronomical research, we would know many months in advance if a dangerously large asteroid was on a collision course with Earth. In earlier times, mankind would have been completely surprised by a devastating impact - in principle no different than the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

There is no question that one day the earth will be hit by an asteroid with the potential for apocalypse. The only open question is when. Experts calculate that the next large asteroid that would wipe out humanity is statistically already overdue. If it were to come in the next few years, there would – as of now – be no instrument to prevent the accident.

The fact that such an instrument would be technically achievable is shown by the experiment on the "Dart" space probe, which was deliberately brought to collide with the asteroid Dimorphos at the end of September. Now NASA is reporting that the celestial body was actually able to be deflected a little from its orbit by the crash. According to the laws of physics, one shouldn't have expected anything else. Nice that it was actually like that in practice. But the gain in knowledge is minimal at this point.

The greater significance of the "dart" experiment lies in the fact that the attention of large parts of the world public is drawn to an issue that plays no part in people's everyday lives - the real threat to our planet from space.

A system to defend against approaching asteroids is feasible. But the effort is great, the technology expensive and the development time long. No country will want or be able to do this alone. International cooperation is therefore required.

The example of climate change shows how difficult it is to take expensive precautionary measures for risks that lie more or less in the distant future. One thing is clear: If the earth were to be destroyed by an asteroid in 100 years, the responsibility lies with us. By then, the defensive techniques could have been ready at all times.

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