A Close Shave with DA14

By Mary Basiadima, 15 February 2013

I am sure there were many women around the globe who were for a ‘big rock’ for valentine’s day yesterday however I am pretty sure this is not what they had in mind. An that goes by the name DA14 will miss earth as it by 17,200 miles of earth. Yes, I know 17,200 miles may seem like a cosmic distance but don’t be fooled, this 150 foot wide will have made a grand entrance into the book of records with it being the closest encounter with an asteroid ever predicted. In fact it’s that close that at its closest point it will be within orbit of excess of 100 telecommunication and weather .

Don’t worry we are safe…or are we?

Astronomers are said to be 99.9% that we are safe from an type scenario. So don’t worry Bruce, we won’t be sending you up in a space shuttle again any time soon to be exploding any .

However breaking news this morning that Russia has been left in devastation as a meteor shower rained down over the Chelyabinsk region, over 500 people. The meteorite disintegrated above Urals, up in the lower earth’s atmosphere. Reports from the minister claim that as of 14:30 Moscow time, 514 people sort out attention with 112 of these being hospitalised.

this crafty used the sun to remain until it was too late. of the event said that the explosion of impact was so loud it seemed like an earthquake and strike had at the same time.

In a nutshell what would happen if this Asteroid was to hit?

I think it goes without saying that this would be bad news. To first answer this question we have to figure out how much energy the could potentially release upon impact. This will some very out so I hope you have all brushed up on your math.

below we can see the equation used to work this out:

Σ(2r+3) = 6Σr + 3Σ(8) (r = 1…n)

=5n(n+7)/2 + 1n

Ok that is interesting, are you the same answer as me? No? Ok let me this for you:

Big asteroid + Impact with earth = Very Bad.

Lucky for us three very clever scientists asked the very same back in 2010. Their shown that the impact would have 3.3 megatons of energy and an energy of around 2.9 megatons, 5.2 miles from the . This energy can be compared to around 138 atomic bombs similar to the one dropped in back in 1945.

Now this energy being released upon the major cities of the world New York, London, Tokyo or Moscow. Frightening right? However if we step back for a moment we would that such an event would be quite rare as these cities as big as they are, are only a small dot compared to the vast area of the earth.

Could we defend against such an event?

There have been countless proposals on how we could defend our little marble from such an attack. But during these troubled economic times such to make it past the board as they are likely to cost in excess of millions, if not of pounds. Let’s take a look at some of the top ideas suggested:

Go Nuclear

We could send a nuclear projectile to the which would blow it into millions of little pieces. This has its in that the small pieces could rain over earth a shower of destruction. Hmmm this might not be the best idea after all…

Go Nuclear…Plan B

Rather than actually blowing up the asteroid we could try and give it a gentle nudge off its path. By a missile near the big rock we could hope to change the trajectory and reroute it. Again though the to this plan is that this would have to happen decades before it reached us so early detection would be vital to the of this plan.

Rocket Power

This idea would landing on the asteroid (quite a tricky feat) and then firing up the to propel the off course.

Use Our Good Old Friend Gravity

As we all know every object exerts a pull. By hovering over an experts believe this could pull the rock off course. Obviously the bigger the spacecraft the better as it would exert a greater pull.

Lasers

In something that we would be more likely to be seen in a Star Wars movie, we could use a small team of ships which could fire lasers at the giant rock resulting in a trail of debris changing its path.

Harness the Power Of Sun

By attaching solar sails to the earth destroyer, a photon sail could just be enough to change the direction of the rock, if only by a little.

Paint Ball

This one is my favourite and whoever came up with this in- genius idea deserves a good pat on the back. By manoeuvring a spaceship close to the asteroid two volleys of paint pellets could be used to cover the asteroid in white (or light) powder. The first volley would be used to cover one half whilst the over the opposite side. The idea behind this is with the rock brightened, increasing its albedo, the suns would more push upon it which would result in it its . Think about it according to when something bounces off something, the first something gives the second something a push. Also an added bonus to this approach is that when the are fired the impact from the paint would also slightly give the asteroid a slight nudge…every little helps.

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