Lasers may prove to be the most effective weapon against asteroids
DE-STAR (Directed Energy System for Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation) is the name of the system proposed by experts from the University of California, Santa Barbara, led by Philip Lubin, to protect the Earth from the approaching heavenly Tel. It is based on powerful lasers powered by solar panels. They will fire synchronously from orbital platforms, directing beams to one point on the asteroid. A spot will appear there, heated to several thousand degrees, the rock will begin to melt, launch a jet stream. The jet will gradually deflect the block from a dangerous trajectory. And the Earth will be saved from the blow.
Scientists believe that the DE-STAR system will not take long to prepare for an attack. And this gives additional chances of salvation. After all, not all so-called potentially dangerous objects approaching our planet can be detected in a timely manner - so as to have time to equip, for example, a missile with a thermonuclear warhead for interception. Or something else.
The weakness of ground-based detection systems was recently revealed by astronomers from the University of California, Los Angeles, led by Shantanu. P. Naidu, PhD candidate, Planetary astronomer in the Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences department at UCLA University of California, Los Angeles. The statistics they analyzed showed that even the most powerful observatories let through 60 to 70 percent of asteroids with diameters not exceeding 30 meters. That is, they do not notice them. A typical example is the Chelyabinsk meteorite. Or they notice, but too late - 15 days before the dangerous rapprochement.
Scientists suggest directing modest-sized platforms with relatively low-power lasers to the already known asteroids, whose orbits can intersect with the Earth's. They will for a long time, but stubbornly "burn" the blocks, being in close proximity to them. This system was named DE-STARLITE.
According to calculations, in order to deflect the asteroid Apophis (diameter 250-350 meters) by several thousand kilometers, which has a chance - albeit minimal - of colliding with the Earth in 2036, DE-STARLITE will need 15 years with a laser power of 100 kilowatts. But you can reject it in a year if you increase the power of the lasers at least tenfold.
Apophis's orbit crosses Earth
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Those who are especially curious can enjoy Lubin's ideas in an hour-long video, where he talks about the DE-STAR and DE-STARLITE projects.
REFERENCE "KP" For 12 years the Earth has been in the power of the God of Darkness and Chaos The last time one of the most dangerous objects in the solar system, the asteroid Apophis, aka 2004 NM4, which rushes towards us at a speed of 45 kilometers per second, became the object of close attention 4 years ago. Then the staff of the St. Petersburg Institute of Applied Astronomy (IPA RAS) refined the orbit of the huge block, using the results obtained over 7 years of observations. According to the published study (Astronomical Bulletin No. 2-2012), it turned out that one should hardly expect a global cataclysm in the foreseeable future. This was announced aloud by Viktor Shor, a leading researcher at the Laboratory of Small Bodies of the Institute of Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, speaking at the International Aerospace Congress in Moscow. According to Viktor Abramovich,encouraging amendments were introduced by taking into account the influence of the so-called Yarkovsky effect on the trajectory of the asteroid. The essence of the effect is in the influence of the Sun on the surface of at least a slightly rotating asteroid. She heats up, falling under the rays, and cools down, hiding. In this case, the surface emits photons - the cold side is less than the heated one. The result is an impulse - reactive force. She is tiny. But acting constantly, it is capable of knocking the asteroid out of the way. The existence of the phenomenon back in 1900 - two years before his death - was predicted by the Russian engineer-technologist Ivan Yarkovsky. And in 2003, NASA specialists recorded it for the first time, observing the asteroid Golevka, discovered in 1991. And we were convinced that the force "seducing" from the true path is real. For 12 years, a body weighing more than 200 million tons deviated from the calculated trajectory by 15 kilometers. - A collision in 2036 has a vanishingly low probability when taking into account the Yarkovsky effect, - said Viktor Shor about Apophis.
Image of Apophis taken in 2007
Asteroid 2004 NM4 world was discovered by accident in December 2004. The world then shuddered. And the astronomers themselves were horrified. The first - preliminary calculations - the orbits of the asteroid testified that we did not have long to live - until Friday, April 13, 2029. After all, the probability that a block with a diameter of 320 meters will crash into the Earth was 3 to 100. That's a lot. None of the previously discovered celestial bodies had so many chances to destroy civilization. Soon the asteroid had a terrifying name - Apophis. This is how the ancient Greeks called the God of Darkness and Chaos. But, to the relief of others, more accurate calculations of the trajectory showed: 2029 is not to be feared at all. Apophis will definitely fly by. Although it will sweep only 40 thousand kilometers (more precisely 39.3) from our planet. The next dangerous date is April 13, 2036. Scientists initially assumedthat by this time the chances of a collision with the Earth will increase due to its gravitational influence. In other words, our planet will gradually pull the asteroid towards itself. Now, according to Russian data, a collision is unlikely in 24 years.
In 2029 and 2036, Apophis will tickle the nerves of earthlings
Our scientists are echoed by the American ones. They also calm you down. If in 2008 specialists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, California, USA) and astronomers from the University of Hawaii estimated the chances of a global catastrophe in 2036 as 1 in 45,000, then in 2012 - as 1 in 250,000. If you believe the computer simulation of the asteroid's motion, then will have to get nervous in 2068. The probability of a catastrophe is 1 in 400,000. It seems that it is not at all great. But the fact that chances exist at all testifies to only one thing: Apophis can still crash into the Earth. Therefore, it is early to breathe a sigh of relief. The God of Darkness and Chaos will never leave us alone. At least until humanity, for example, rejects it with lasers. Or something else.
Vladimir LAGOVSKY
