Feb. 20, 2007 —It lacks the fanfare of a Hollywood drama, but using gravity to gently steer a threatening
asteroid is a far better option than blasting it to smithereens, says a group of astronauts and scientists.
The Association of Space Explorers is
lobbying the United Nations to take charge of deciding if, when and how to protect the planet from an
approaching asteroid.
It's not a hypothetical exercise.
NASA has been tasked by Congress to identify 90 percent of near-Earth asteroids large enough to cause global devastation. The agency recently was directed to hone
its search for rocks as small as 459 feet (140 meters) in diameter, which could cause
significant damage on a regional scale.
So far, NASA has about 5,000 asteroids in its database.
"In the future, we're going to have 100 times more. We'll have a half-million in 20 years," Apollo
astronaut Rusty Schweickart said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science
meeting in San Francisco.
An asteroid known as Apophis already has caught NASA's eye. Experts estimate there is a one in
45,000 chance the space rock will smash into Earth in 2036.
Granted, those odds aren't high, but there is currently no plan or proven technology to take
action if the risk of a strike grows as Apophis' orbit becomes better known.
For that reason the time to take action is now, said Schweickart, who is spearheading the effort by the Association of Space Explorers to bring the issue before the United Nations.
The group, a professional organization of astronauts, cosmonauts and others who
have orbited Earth, has organized a series to workshops to develop a blueprint for the United Nations
to consider. Schweickart hopes to bring a formal recommendation to the U.N. Committee for Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space by 2009.
Scientists estimate Apophis, which is about 1,000 feet (320 meters) in diameter, would not cause
global damage, but it certainly has the power to decimate a major city or even a state the size of
California. Apophis' projected path spans a good portion of the globe, from Siberia to the west
coast of Africa.
