Chinese researchers fear ‘catastrophic cosmic event’, call for planetary defenses

Fear that a asteroid crash into the Earth. This is the reason why A team of Chinese scientists has called on the planet to prepare and everything indicates that the risk of this cosmic catastrophe is greater than previously thought.

As the Chinese team, led by He Zhang, explains, Spacecraft Systems Institute from Beijinginformation currently being processed on near-Earth asteroids -And are potentially dangerous — This is only a fraction of the actual number that could threaten life on the planet.

“There may be a significant discrepancy between the number of near-Earth asteroids discovered and the actual number that exist,” it reads. The study, published in the academic journal Scientia Sinica Technologica .

That’s why The best option would be to “minimize the possibility” of an asteroid hitting Earth, through “extreme measures.”

The Chinese team’s study aimed to see What are the viable alternatives that humanity now has, given the advances in technology, to protect the planet from asteroids of different shapes, sizes and densities?

And the result showed that Only nuclear weapons could prevent a destructive asteroid from crashing into Earth. And it takes a lot of force to deflect one of these things – like rockets armed with nuclear warheads – because asteroids can be too dangerous and too dangerous.

“A nuclear explosion has surprising advantages for self-defense.” ” said the study authors.

Even though the measure proposed by China is extreme, THE JAR also proposed an alternative to protect the Earth from a possible asteroid collision.

In addition, the space agency typically conducts asteroid impact exercises every two years. Currently, they have the mission DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) which seeks to understand whether humanity can influence the trajectory of a potentially dangerous asteroid.

In one of them, NASA managed to hit the moon of the asteroid Dimorphos, changing its orbit. However, this method would have limitations and could not be used against a larger, more dangerous asteroid.

DART could even have negative side effects on life on Earth: One study claims that when fired at an asteroid, it could break up millions of fragments of space rock and fall to Earth and Mars, causing a shower of “shooting stars” caused by humans for the first time.

With this backgroundChinese scientists have assured that it is necessary to develop technology that can effectively defend the planet from giant asteroids, and also prevent collateral damage to the planet.

For example, the article says that Nuclear warheads would be needed that could be launched from Earth to an asteroid in “extremely short” time to respond quickly to the emergency. and also make sure that this work is based on a precision system.

The margin of error must be minimal, which is extremely difficult to achieve, and at present no country has the capability to launch nuclear warheads into space on short notice.

In this perspective, as the authors explain, The world needs to focus on building new rockets that meet all of the above needs: that they can have a rapid response, that they are accurate, that they can easily launch nuclear warheads. and that they are deployed at strategic points in space.

And current rockets are neither created nor activated for this, so they would not be useful in a cosmic emergency.

In this way, faced with the imminent threat of an asteroid colliding with Earth, the planet could be prepared to try to defend itself and save humanity from catastrophe.

But there is also a problem with this: Under the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the use and deployment of nuclear weapons in outer space is prohibited.

Therefore, if we cannot count on the creation and authorization to combat asteroids with nuclear weapons, Chinese scientists have also proposed other alternatives, which may not be as effective, but are worth using in an emergency.

These would be kinetic impact and high-power laser weapons.

The biggest drawback is that they are more difficult to use when you are short on time, such as in an imminent emergency. In combination with other technologies, they could be effective in defending the planet against potentially dangerous asteroids.

In this way, the exercises of NASA and other space agencies and international organizations become relevant and come into play: and their vision – more than attacking asteroids at their roots with powerful nuclear weapons – is one of the prepare, identify dangerous asteroids and plan what to do with them and how to defend the planet in the long term.

“These hypothetical scenarios are complex and require significant effort to design in order to make them useful and engaging for exercise participants and decision makers.” assured the director of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), Paul Chodas .