A
lot of concern has been raised about an impact by a comet or
asteroid, but that is only if it hits Earth, because of loss of life
and damage to infrastructure. If it hits, say Mars, well that’s all
well and good, and that is what might happen on January 30th 2008. Here’s the reason why it would be good.
First,
Mars is devoid of teaming life. There might be life under the
surface, maybe microbial, maybe more. There is no way to know for
sure until a manned mission explores these areas. So for now were
working with the assumption that life is very difficult or impossible
on Mars and this impact really wouldn’t harm such life or none at
all.
Second
there have never been more orbiting and surface cameras in such a
good spot in a long time. When Shoemaker-Levi’s comet hit Jupiter
you had Galileo satellite close by and you had the Hubble Space
Telescope and other telescopes in range to record the outcome and the
outcome was Jupiter won. But the comet left scars that showed that
even big planets can have catastrophic events happen to them. So, you
have the two NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity on the ground. They
will answer two questions. One, will it be possible to capture this
event from the ground and if so we will have our first real data of
what an asteroid looks like coming in through the atmosphere. Lastly,
if the event is so powerful will there be a seismic event. Plus you
have the Mars Reconnaissance orbiter that can take detailed images
and can give real time images of the impact and its consequences.
Third,
Mars is one of the most mapped planets in the solar system. Any event
can be compared to prior Maps and scientists can gauge if their
theories on impacts is right or wrong and how to fix them. But
scientists are pretty sure of their theories and it is this that
makes a Mars impact so exciting. They will see their theories put to
the test.
And
of course every space enthusiasts will tune in to the internet or the
TV and watch it happen and then wonder well if it can happen there
can’t it happen here?
And
the sad reality is, “Yes, yes, it can,” and our government is not
doing enough to find all the near earth asteroids that could hit the
Earth. That is sad enough but what is really a sobering fact is that
a lot of these objects come out of our blind spot the glare of the
sun and we can’t know if we have them all cataloged. So we live
with chance.
- The
chance of dying from a car accident is? 1 in 18,585
- The
chance of getting killed by an asteroid is? 1 in 20,000
- The
two actually don’t sound so bad and are close in range until you
read: the chance of Earth having a catastrophic collision by an
asteroid? 1 in 5,000
If
it is huge asteroid or comet and hits water it will send huge tidal
waves your way and massive steam and debris far into the atmosphere.
If it hits land it will shake the world with massive earthquakes and
also send streams of debris into the atmosphere. Gee, it seems to me
that it should be this nation’s government’s top goal of finding
every last comet and asteroid that could ruin life as we know it here
on Earth. Don’t you? I mean you can’t appropriate money for next
year’s budget if a comet/asteroid hits and kills everyone on Earth.
