.
From time to time we wonder at the meteors that pass us by in the heavens and which sometimes give us spectacular sights at night. Yet we give little or no thought to the chances of a meteorite crashing into earth even though this does occasionally happen.
It seems that one asteroid, Apophis, named after an Ancient Egyptian god of evil, will be passing around 30,000 km from the Earth in 2029. So that should be a good sight.
However, the same asteroid will be passing us by again in 2036, and this time the US Space Agency reckon that there is a one-in-250,000 chance of it colliding with the Earth with a large loss of life resulting.
But not to worry, for the Russian space agency, ROSCOSMOS, has come up with an international plan to divert Apophis without the use of nuclear weapons.
I shan’t be around in 2036 to know whether the plan comes to fruition, but I wish it well for two reasons.
Firstly, anything which prevents the loss of human life is to be welcomed.
Secondly, because this is the best New Year Resolution I’ve heard so far!
.
From time to time we wonder at the meteors that pass us by in the heavens and which sometimes give us spectacular sights at night. Yet we give little or no thought to the chances of a meteorite crashing into earth even though this does occasionally happen.
It seems that one asteroid, Apophis, named after an Ancient Egyptian god of evil, will be passing around 30,000 km from the Earth in 2029. So that should be a good sight.
However, the same asteroid will be passing us by again in 2036, and this time the US Space Agency reckon that there is a one-in-250,000 chance of it colliding with the Earth with a large loss of life resulting.
But not to worry, for the Russian space agency, ROSCOSMOS, has come up with an international plan to divert Apophis without the use of nuclear weapons.
I shan’t be around in 2036 to know whether the plan comes to fruition, but I wish it well for two reasons.
Firstly, anything which prevents the loss of human life is to be welcomed.
Secondly, because this is the best New Year Resolution I’ve heard so far!
.
No comments:
Post a Comment