While we puny humans go about our days, worrying about trivial matters like shoes, the Oscars and the efficacy or otherwise of coalition governments, an asteroid with – so we’re told – the destructive power of an H-bomb is hurtling towards our favorite green and blue planet, Earth.
And not for the first time, either. These pesky asteroids keep setting themselves on an inexorable collision course with Planet Earth like stone kamikaze pilots at regular intervals across the ages of Man. So far, their aim hasn’t been too good, mostly missing us altogether, but a couple of doozies have snuck through the atmosphere and smacked Mother Earth upside the head. It can only be a matter of time etc.
E&T has covered this intergalactic terror before from a number of angles, including Nasa’s 1,000 most-wanted asteroid list, the ESA crowdsourcing asteroid watch and what exactly can we do about the asteroid threat anyway.
Click on the graphic for an expanded view.
Engineering & Technology magazine 