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This past Friday was not a good day for asteroid-human relations with asteroid 2012 DA14 passing a mere 27,700 km (17,200 miles) from the Earth just a few hours after a meteor exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, damaging hundreds of buildings and injuring thousands. Scientists have been quick to point out that both of these events – a meteor exploding over a populated area and a large asteroid passing through Earth's geosynchronous orbit – are quite rare, but when the worst case scenario is the complete annihilation of all life on Earth, it's probably best to be prepared. That's why researchers in California recently proposed DE-STAR – a system which could potentially harness the sun's energy to dissolve wayward space rocks up to ten times larger than 2012 DA14 with a vaporizing laser... Continue Reading Scientists propose destroying asteroids with sun-powered laser array
Section: Research Watch
Tags: Asteroid, Laser, Spacecraft, UCSB
Related Articles:
via http://www.gizmag.com/
This past Friday was not a good day for asteroid-human relations with asteroid 2012 DA14 passing a mere 27,700 km (17,200 miles) from the Earth just a few hours after a meteor exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, damaging hundreds of buildings and injuring thousands. Scientists have been quick to point out that both of these events – a meteor exploding over a populated area and a large asteroid passing through Earth's geosynchronous orbit – are quite rare, but when the worst case scenario is the complete annihilation of all life on Earth, it's probably best to be prepared. That's why researchers in California recently proposed DE-STAR – a system which could potentially harness the sun's energy to dissolve wayward space rocks up to ten times larger than 2012 DA14 with a vaporizing laser... Continue Reading Scientists propose destroying asteroids with sun-powered laser array
Section: Research Watch
Tags: Asteroid, Laser, Spacecraft, UCSB
Related Articles:
- Laser-wielding satellite swarm to deflect asteroids
- ESA to test asteroid deflection
- Asteroid to miss Earth by less than 20,000 miles next month
- China's Chang'E 2 succeeds in thrilling asteroid flyby
- Asteroid deflection schemes go green with solar-powered laser spacecraft
- Russian meteor strike prompts call for asteroid sentries
via http://www.gizmag.com/
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