Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.
Preparation
A
In 2010, the planetary defence team at NASA had identified and logged 90 per cent of the asteroids near Earth measuring 1km wide. These 'near-Earth objects', or NEOs, are the size of mountains and include anything within 50 million kilometres of Earth's orbit. With an estimated 50 left to log, NASA says none of the 887 it knows about are a significant danger to the planet.
B
Now NASA is working towards logging some of the smaller asteroids, those measuring 140 metres wide or more. Of the 25,000 estimated asteroids of this size, so far about 8,000 have been logged, leaving 17,000 unaccounted for. Considering that a 19-metre asteroid that exploded above the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 injured 1,200 people, these middle-sized asteroids would be a serious danger if they enter Earth's orbit.
C
Whether NASA can find the remaining middle-sized NEOs depends on getting the money to build NEOCam, a 0.5-metre space telescope which would use infrared light to locate asteroids. If it did get the money, it could probably achieve its goal in ten years. Once logged, the planetary defence team would still need to work out how to defend the planet against being hit by the truly worrying asteroids – the PHAs.
D
'Potentially Hazardous Asteroids' are rocks close enough to pass within 7.5 million kilometres of Earth's orbit. NASA has created a map of 1,400 PHAs, none of which are expected to be a threat in the next one hundred years. With technology already available, NASA can track these objects and make predictions about possible impact, at which point two defence solutions could be launched.
E
The first is DART – the Double Asteroid Redirection Test. Plans are scheduled to test DART on the moon of an asteroid called Didymos. 'Didymoon' is 150 metres wide, orbiting its 800-metre mother, and hopefully the impact of DART will knock it out of its orbit enough for Earth-based telescopes to pick up.
F
Another suggested defence against a PHA on course to hit Earth is to blow it up using a nuclear weapon. It may sound like a plot from a film, and it was the subject of the 1998 film Armageddon, but the Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response (HAMMER) is a genuine NASA proposal. The eight-ton rockets would be fired at an approaching asteroid with the hope of bumping it off course. If the asteroid was too close to Earth for this plan to work, the rockets would carry nuclear bombs to blow it up instead.
"If I learned that an asteroid was approaching Earth, I would follow the guidance and instructions provided by the government and experts. However, I believe my first instinct would be to say a prayer, asking God to protect me, my family, my country, and the entire world from harm."
What would you do if you heard that an asteroid was near Earth?
I will first verify the news from an authentic source and then follow the instructions given by the government. Because this is not a single-person solution we need the help of the government in this situation.
What would you do if you heard that an asteroid was near Earth?
My behaviour will be different considered the wide of the asteroid.
I say, if the asteroid had the same dimensions like the asteroid that annihilated the dinosaurs millions years ago, I surely would lose hope to survive; because an event like that would destroy the human life, due to the fact that after the impact our life conditions would change immediately. (About this catastrophe, there’s a marvellous film that shows the possible future scenario and the possible human effort to contrast the annihilation, it’s “Don’t Look Up”).
Instead, if the asteroid was like that of the incident of Chelyabinsk in Russia, the situation would be different: because only a little part of the earth would be on risk (it’s sound a bit rude, I know). However, I hope that the human mission to contrast and destroyed the asteroid has success.
In general, this article has the aim to open our eyes on a possible future catastrophe, which isn’t necessary too far, because there’re a lot of unknown aspects and only the science can help human race to survive against this type of threat.
It depends on how close was the asteroid and how much danger it represents. If it's really dangeour and really close to Earth (something able to end human life) I would quit work and my studies to just relax and have a great time with my family and friends, probably throw a huge party or something like this lol. But if it wasn't that big of a threat I'd just keep living life normally.
If I heard that an asteroid was near the earth , first I will listen to my country government advice to follow if I found it practical . And If I am not convinced with , then I will move to the other side of the world with my family as quick as possible .
Actually, i would search on internet about where this asteroid will be fallen probably and leave the area with my family to go as far as we can. Also, I'll share the information that i got through internet with my neighbors to help them too.
Very tricky situation but I think I could shot a weapon against it to blow it off course and that the earth 🌎 stays safe
It's a very tricky question) But I guess that if I found out that the asteroid was about to hit the Earth, I would probably share this information with my family and we would take all the necessary things (like our cats, money, and passports) and then hide somewhere in the basement. I feel like almost every one would act like me in this particular situation.
I remember hearing about it in the recent past, and it didn't change anything in my life. I wonder if there's anything we can do as normal citizens?
I don’t know, I suppouse it depends on the size of the asteroid, if it’s like the one which exploded over Russia and it’s not expected to do it near my country, I would not be very concerned. But if it would expected to explode or crash near my country I certainly would go to the farest place from where it would be expected to explode as fast as possible. If the size of the asteroid is big enough to crash the Earth and end the life on it I suppose
I would grab my trumpet and play the last song of my existence.
Thanks for the lesson.
Great site!!