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UN hopes to avert asteroid apocalypse, will adopt early warning measures
When a 10,000 ton meteor exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabisnk back in February, it was only a small taste of what Earth's future could look like if we aren't vigilant. Last week, the United Nations General Assembly approved of plans to form a dedicated anti-asteroid unit, a development that the Association of Space Explorers has been fighting for since 2008. The current problem lies in our lack of early warning systems; monitoring for asteroids on a collision course with Earth (there are 1,400 that we know of) could give us the chance to knock them out of their orbits before they reach our planet. Ed Lu, retired astronaut and founder of the B612 Foundation, which aims to address the issue of potential asteroid impacts, helped develop the UN's measures. Lu hopes that B612's Sentinel telescope, designed specifically for keeping an eye on threats from space, will stay on schedule for a 2017 launch. He told Scientific American, "There are about 1 million asteroids large enough to destroy New York City or larger. Our challenge is to find these asteroids first before they find us."
Crowd-funded group building asteroid-mapping telescope, saving Earth (video)
Just when you're numbing to robot, zombie and nuclear apocalypse scenarios, some old-fashioned asteroid paranoia pops up to surprise you. The B612 Foundation, which gets funding from, well, anyone, has just announced plans to launch Sentinel, a space telescope which will wander the vacuum cataloging asteroids in our inner solar system. Their goal is to track asteroid orbits and predict large impacts up to 100 years in advance, giving us plenty of time to find a solution (or enjoy our final days). Construction doesn't start til late fall, with the launch expected in around five years, so it won't be any use in disproving the 2012 doomsday believers out there. You can find out more about the project and donate to the foundation at the source link, or jump past the break for a video explanation, Aerosmith not included.
