We have heard science fiction writers talk about killing asteroids to save our planet for decades. We have also heard them write about Comets hitting the Earth and life never being the same again. In fact we cannot be so sure that it has not happened before and that the dinosaurs were killed by a giant object hitting the Earth in the Gulf of Mexico near the Yucatan Peninsula half a billion years ago.
Has man really come to the point of being able to shoot down flying rocks in space to save humankind's destiny? Has our brain capacity grown to the point that we are ready to meet such a challenge head on? It appears so as this year NASA launched a satellite, which crashed into an asteroid on the Fourth of July. Shooting down an asteroid maybe tougher than you think, for instance it maybe easier to deflect one slightly to miss Earth.
Today we track asteroids, meteors and comets around our solar system, just like we track space junk which could endanger our ISS International Space Station or satellites. We need to be sure that one will not hit the Earth.
Some asteroids, meteors and Comets are made out of different things. Some might be made of iron and nickel, some out of ice and some like a sponge. It is rather hard to hit a flying sponge as it would absorb any such impact. Perhaps it might be better to lodge a device inside of it or attach a propulsion system too it, to gradually steer it to one side clearing the Earth. Something to think on, as NASA works out a plan for such an eventuality.
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