Space Events

Asteroid Defense for Earth Planned

Measures to protect Earth from a catastrophic impact by an asteroid or other near-Earth objects (NEO) are being developed in a four-year plan by the European Space Agency (ESA). The plan comes less than three months after a meteor exploded over Russia’s Ural region, injuring hundreds.

There are currently 10,000 NEO’s that have orbits that bring them relatively close to Earth.

Detlef Koschny, head of the agency’s NEO study office, says more coordinated scans of the sky each night are necessary to find currently undiscovered NEOs.

Studies to determine if it would be more effective to deflect threatening asteroids with an explosion or an impact with a large object are also being planned.

The proposals were being discussed in a conference near Madrid at a meeting set up by Seimos Space, an industrial partner working with the ESA.