A new consortium of EU researchers is exploring options for dealing with an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Plenty of ideas are already on the table, such as deflection with projectiles or explosives and using gravity to put it off course. But the project’s complexity and costs are problematic.

The Earth’s residents can once again play the popular game of “What if?” What if a hunk of cosmic rock is out there on a collision course with Earth? An Asteroid labeled “(433) Eros” is rushing toward our planet on a course that will bring it relatively close, at least on a cosmic scale.

On the one hand, the chunk of rock—measuring 30 by 13 kilometers (19 by 8 by 8 miles)—is approaching Earth closer than any asteroid of this size has for a long time. But on the other, it is currently following a circular path far beyond the moon’s orbit.

Many people might shudder to think of these silent giants. But then they will go on about their daily business, forgetting all about (433) Eros and others. After all, in statistical terms, the chances of an asteroid that size hitting the Earth are still rather slim.

Nevertheless, there are still some people who remain focused on this threat. Among them are Alan Harris and his colleagues at a newly formed consortium working on behalf of the European Union to develop “mitigation” strategies against potential cosmic killers. Harris, a planetary scientist at the German Aerospace Center’s Berlin-based Institute of Planetary Research, is leading the three-year NEOShield project, with “NEO” being the acronym for “near-Earth object.”

In response to these worries, the European Commission recently decided to invest €4 million ($5.3 million) in the NEOShield project. An additional €1.8 million will come from scientific institutions and industry partners. Within three years’ time, the experts hope to draw up a blueprint for a test mission. If it can find a financial backer, such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the mission could be launched as early as 2020.

In the meantime, researchers are working hard to find out whatever they can about our cosmic escorts. For example, NASA plans to launch its “OSIRIS-REx” probe in 2016 to pay a visit to the asteroid “1999 RQ36.” If everything goes according to plan, the probe will return to Earth seven years later with up to two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of sample material in its hold.

-spiegel.de, 30 January 2012




Scientists the world over seem to increasingly focus their attention on outer space; in this case, targeting the threat of asteroids. Is this real or imagined? Based on a number of gigantic craters in Canada, Arizona and Germany, to mention a few, all seem to attest that asteroids did strike the earth sometime in ancient history. Yet, the tiny sum ($5.3 million) the European Commission has allotted to this project seems to testify that the alleged danger is mostly theory.

However, the increased attention to outer space may well be connected to the real thing confirmed in the Bible, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels” (Revelation 12:7). War in heaven is something totally different than war on earth. The Bible does not give more information except to report of the end result, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (verse 9). Thus, planet Earth will experience an impact of some sort coming out of heaven.

(For more on this subject, read 2012, the Bible and the End of the World, Item 2252, $12.99.)


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