Asteroid Dead Ahead

Or is it a meteorite? Asteroids are large and one hitting Earth could be a big deal. Meteorites are small chunks of asteroids so are less of a big deal.

We can all sleep a little easier knowing somebody has not only pondered the consequences of a large rock hitting Earth, but also devised a way they believe will avoid such an event.

If the truth be told we would all be sleeping easier had we remained in blissful ignorance of the possibility. Hollywood put paid to that.

In terms of Earth years large rocks regularly hit Earth (once every 100000 years on average). The folks over at the b612 foundation believe we have the techology to lick the problem:

http://www.b612foundation.org/info/solution.html

What differentiates b612 is they believe it can be solved by non-nuclear means. In some circles there is a belief both the threat of a collision and the necessity of a nuclear option to combat a rogue asteroid has been over-played, a ruse for putting nukes in space.

The line dividing civil and military applications is a thin one.

Space is already colonised by the military, but beyond a few experiments routine weaponisation has not yet taken place. It looks increasingly likely as more and more military capability is lofted into orbit. The Chinese recently fired a space-bound missle from an Earth launch site to take out an ageing satellite.

There is little that man can do to stop himself crossing over this line, in fact if there isn't a line then man feels obliged to draw one, then compelled to cross it! For example the carving up the rain forests continues apace, and noises are begining to be heard about a race to exploit natural resources held under the poles.

What drives this? It's not so much that one man (or country) needs these things, but more the thought that things will be worse for him if he fails to act and loses the initiate to another. Ultimately a manifestation of our competitive nature.

Space presents a new set of problems, hardware is not as easy to conceil and sovereign boundaries are less straightforward than on Earth. Then again a satellite orbits the Earth every 45 minutes, giving space-based missles a distinct time advantage.

Neil Armstrong claimed mankind made a great leap when man set foot on the moon - in terms of that particular event yes. But in the wider context the evidence is mankind always fall from the same tree and never falls too far from it. And in 100 years from now when the moon is full of flags and missile silos we may wonder when and where it all went wrong.

Perhaps some comfort can be drawn from the possibility that a war fought in space could be far less destructive in terms of human suffering than one fought on Earth.

Astronauts have spoken of a sense of spiritual well being after journeying into space. Perhaps Virgin Galactic can offer discounted tickets to the great leaders of the world - perhaps space trips should be mandatory before taking office.