WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: Can we stop an asteroid from hitting Earth? 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:14.280 stuff Works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to text Stuff. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:17.119 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.919 How Stuff Works in a love all things tech. And 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:22.840 it's a Friday. You know what that means. It's time 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:27.760 for another tech stuff classic. And what fun topic do 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:33.480 we have today? Kids, Well, it's can we stop an 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:39.040 asteroid from hitting Earth? Yikes? Yeah, when you talk about 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:43.720 existential threats and asteroid hitting Earth is way up there. 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:47.080 We know that it will happen. The question is just 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:52.000 when will it happen, not if when and what can 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.400 we do to avoid that? Well, this episode, which we 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:59.400 originally published on July eleven, two eleven, gets to the 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.840 bottom of that. Chris Pallette and I take a look 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:08.280 at some proposed solutions to this problem. Listen and enjoy. 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:12.520 We're gonna be talking about asteroids and preventing a collision 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.000 with Earth and what sort of tech would be involved 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:19.000 with that. And this comes courtesy of some Facebook requests 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.160 and email requests. I can't believe that we had people 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:25.119 send us Multiple people sent us this request which seems 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:29.360 really specific for more than one person. But hey, we're 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:33.640 gonna do it, okay, And um, you know, if you 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.560 have seen the documentary Armageddon, you remember that we shot 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:40.959 Bruce Willis up into space um with Ben Affleck and 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:43.520 some other folks like Steve bus Simmy to scare an 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.240 asteroid out of the way, because Steve Busummy is a 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.240 scary guy. Uh wait, I think I might be. I 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.360 think I might be a little off track. Oh well, anyway, 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:53.000 the premise of the movie was that there was this 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.120 enormous asteroid the size of Texas, which, by the way, 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:03.080 not that guy, you do. Yeah, that that's that's a 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.080 reference that goes over everyone's head because no one, none 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.240 of our listeners have ever played the game Asteroids. What 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.840 some of you have played Asteroids? And maybe so maybe 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.359 maybe our our buddy Floyd the truck driver, he might 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.160 have hopefully not while driving, well I hope not. Anyway, 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.639 we're getting off track already. So the whole, the whole 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:26.880 premise of the movie is that there's this giant asteroid 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.120 the size of Texas that's going to be flying at Earth, 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:31.720 and so they come up with this idea where they 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:37.160 scramble a bunch of uh minors essentially to shoot up 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:41.160 into space, land on the asteroid, and plant a nuclear 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:43.560 device on the asteroid that will blow it up to 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.320 tiny little bits and save the Earth. And so we 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.880 want to address this, um this first, So let's let's 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:52.720 get this all of the way. That would not work, 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:55.600 That would that would be a bad thing. First of all, 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:01.200 the power of such a device is hard to imagine. 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.880 How would you create a nuclear device powerful enough to 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:09.480 explode texas into tiny bits the equivalent of texas flying 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.320 at you. Also, by the way, an asteroid that size 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:17.079 would pretty much wipe out everybody. Um. You know, when 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.080 we talk about asteroids that are are dangerous enough to 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:23.360 wipe out a city fifty yards that's big enough. A 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.760 fifty yard asteroid, like an asteroid fifty yards across, we 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:32.880 have enough power, enough enough force to destroy a city 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:38.760 if it impacted the city. Um. Now, NASA classifies earth 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:42.160 threatening asteroids as being a hundred and forty meters or larger. 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.240 But then that conveniently is about the size that we 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:50.520 can detect them. Well, it's uh. It's important to note 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.760 too that it's happened before. We have been hit with 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:59.320 with many space objects in the past, and I assume 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:03.600 to some small degree continue to do. So, Ye's something 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:05.280 that we hear about in the news every day. But 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:10.200 every single day the Earth is hit by by tiny 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.120 little object. Granted we haven't been hit by a massive 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.800 asteroid in a really long time, but meteorites hit the 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.240 Earth every day. Sometimes they're so small that you know, 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:24.400 they're almost undetectable, but it does happen the But yeah, 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.240 they've happen in the past. I mean, that's what wiped 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:31.719 out the dinosaurs was an asteroid impact were possibly common impact, 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.279 but it was a massive impact that that altered the 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.120 Earth's climate, and dinosaurs did not have air conditioning, so 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:43.279 they were pretty much doomed. Doomed. I figured it was 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:47.159 their debaucherous lifestyle and it was unsustainable. Now you're thinking 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:51.080 of Rome, right, you know, I get this confused a lot. Yeah, well, 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:52.680 you know, if you've ever seen a t rex in 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:58.359 a toga never mind. So, so why would this plan 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:02.400 not work with destroying an asteroid with a nuclear device. 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:06.640 Let's assume that, for for argument's sake, that somehow you 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.240 managed to find a nuclear device capable of breaking up 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:14.560 a Texas size asteroid while it was hurtling towards Earth. 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.599 And keep in mind this was this this asteroid was 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.840 close to Earth by the time it blows up, Otherwise 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:23.240 it's not nearly as dramatic an ending. Right, of course, 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:24.839 you've gotta have it close enough to the Earth where 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.120 people are starting to really freak out. Oh and how 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:29.760 long exactly did they have to prepare for this? It 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:31.760 was like a couple of days or something like that. 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.400 It was crazy short time period. We would know, Yeah, 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:38.320 anything that's anything that that size, we would be able 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:42.200 to spot between Mars and Jupiter, giving us years, literally 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:46.080 years to prepare. It would not be a last minute thing. 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:49.120 And um, that's one of the myths that movies perpetuate 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.880 is that you know, you have some uh, some some 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.320 amateur astronomer out in the middle of nowhere just looking 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.039 up and saying, that's weird that star wasn't there yesterday. 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:02.040 And then and then that information slowly filters its way 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:05.080 to some official source which immediately clamps down and keeps 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.560 it all secret so that nobody knows that doom is 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:10.599 on the way until it leaks to the media causing 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:12.920 a panic. Yeah that we don't want to cause a panic. 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.560 It's definitely Hollywood related. So why would blowing up the 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.960 asteroid not be a good idea. Well, that asteroids moving 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:22.719 at a really fast speed and the nuclear warhead is 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:24.920 not going to slow it down. Okay, so you've still 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:29.080 got this this material moving at an incredible speed and 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:32.520 the mass isn't gone. You haven't destroyed the mass. You've 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.279 just spread it out some So instead of it being 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.479 a one massive asteroid hitting the Earth, it's a whole 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:41.440 bunch of them hitting the Earth. And it's like the 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.960 difference between getting hit by a slug and getting hit 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:49.600 by um shotgun shot. You know, we just spread out 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.680 the area of impact, is what you've done. This is 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.680 mission control. We just wanted to say, oops, yeah, are 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:00.520 bad so um so yeah, here's here's why this stuff 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.440 would really work in the real world. All Right, We've 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:08.080 got lots of powerful telescopes pointing in all sorts of directions. Now, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:11.400 so the the the myths of the amateur astronomer who 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:15.400 detects uh something the size the size that's in depicted 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.160 an armageddon is really that's that's busted because it would 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:22.600 be detected by much more powerful telescopes much earlier, and 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:27.120 um that information would go to uh, it's kind of 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:32.040 a clearing house for near Earth objects that could potentially 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:39.080 cause harm. It's called the Minor Planet Center. It's in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Now, 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.360 the Minor Planet Center would then take the information that 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.720 was sent to it, which usually would involve the size 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.560 of the asteroid and it's it's shape of orbit around 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.320 the Sun and whether that orbit could potentially uh collide 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.480 with the Earth, send that information out to observatories all 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.800 across the planet. Now, these observatories would then train their 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:02.000 telescopes onto the object to try and make their own 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:06.000 calculations based upon their own their own perspective, to see 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:11.040 if perhaps this would be a quote unquote interesting object. Now, 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:16.000 in astronomical terms, interesting means holy crap, we're all going 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.640 to die. That's the That's what they mean by interesting 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:24.800 as in potentially impact the Earth. Interesting. And that information 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:29.520 would then be shared amongst those observatories, and the likelihood 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:31.960 of a clamp down is really low, just because you 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:33.960 have so many people who would be involved in this 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.240 and have the information, and lots of them were gonna talk. 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:39.480 A lot of them we're gonna talk and say we 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.360 got to prepare now, because if we don't, we're all 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.679 going to die or a significant number of people are 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:48.520 going to die, because if this asteroid hits a land mass, 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:52.280 then it's gonna be like, depending on the size of 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.240 the asteroid, it could be like the entire world's nuclear 0:08:55.360 --> 0:09:00.120 arsenal exploding in a single point. Um. If it hits 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:05.000 the ocean, then it could generate a tsunami of unprecedented 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.720 uh force that could wipe out an entire coast of 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:12.960 a of a continent. Um. So I mean this is 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:18.360 serious business. Uh. Fortunately, we haven't discovered anything so far 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.200 that would cause that much of a problem. But again, 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:25.560 our ability to detect these objects is limited. Most of 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:28.199 the objects that NASA concentrates on is anything that's the 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.040 higher and forty meters or across or larger. And uh. 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.920 The problem is that smaller objects could cause significant harm. 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:37.680 But finding those objects there is a lot trickier because 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:42.319 space is big, really Yeah, and in relation to space, 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:47.200 fifty yard across asteroid or is nothing. It's it's you know, 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:53.720 you you it's it's impossible to exaggerate how tiny that is. Yeah, 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.000 it's like a it's like a germ on a bug. 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.959 And and and you happened to be like a blue 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:07.680 whale that's kind of and even then that's not even close. Yeah, 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:10.160 I can't get my mind around it. That's that's how 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.920 it is. We'd like to take a quick break from 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:18.160 this existential crisis filled with anxiety and fear, to reflect 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.560 for a moment on how lucky we are to have 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:32.359 this sponsor. So all right, So nuking a an asteroid directly, 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.200 as in trying to blow it up, is not a 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.360 feasible option. So let's let's assume for the moment that 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.280 we have developed technology that helps us, that's improved our 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:46.040 ability to detect asteroids to the point where any asteroid 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.920 that could potentially cause significant harm to people on Earth, 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.720 to life on Earth, that we have somehow managed to 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.360 to create the technology to detect it. Yeah, all right, 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:58.400 and it's and it's important to do so because it 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.960 is probable that we will be hit by something largish 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:07.319 again at some point, Essentially, like it's worthwhile to develop 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:11.040 this technology exactly. So, yeah, the the risk might be low, 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:14.560 but the impact would be huge. So you know, even 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:18.520 taking a low risk perspective of it, the actual impact 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:22.160 would be so enormous that it is a good argument, 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.000 and a lot of people have made this argument to 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.320 um to invest in technology to help prevent it from happening. 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:31.280 So let's assume that we have improved technology so we 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.280 can actually detect these asteroids from a pretty good distance. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.439 Like I said, it might be years before they get here, 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:38.480 or we're gonna need that time because we're gonna need 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:43.720 that time to develop the actual vehicles that the tools 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.680 that we're going to use in order to intercept that asteroid. 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:50.920 So by intercepting it, what could we do to to 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:56.079 avoid a collision. Well, the real key is deflecting the asteroid. 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.640 You just have to move it a tiny bit, especially 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:01.440 the for there out you go. The further out you go, 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:05.440 the tinier that that adjustment needs to be, because by 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:07.800 the time it gets to the Earth it's going to 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.679 be the distance is going to be much more enormous. 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.880 You know. Just think about like you're walking to have 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.079 a friend standing across from you across the football field, 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:21.760 and you're both facing each other exactly. Now imagine that 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.280 your friend just turns slightly a little bit to the 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.960 left and starts walking forward. Well, from a distance, it 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.600 looks like there that your friend may actually meet up 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:33.559 with you once they get all the way across the 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:36.040 football field. But as they continue, you see that they're 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.560 getting further and further away until they reach essentially a 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:43.080 point parallel to you, and they are a good distance 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.880 from you right there, further down the field, like further 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:47.520 to the right or to the left, whichever way the 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:51.280 person turned. Um. That's kind of the idea here is 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.560 that if you can catch an asteroid early enough and 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:57.439 deflected just a couple of degrees, then you've solved the 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.480 problem because it's going to miss the Earth by millions 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:03.160 of miles. Else But how do you deflect it? Well, 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.800 there's a lot of different options. Yeah, I read uh 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:11.120 too specifically that seemed to be the options people are 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:15.320 thinking of most like what's that? Um. One of them, 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:19.400 ironically enough, was to use nuclear devices, Yes, but not 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.240 to destroy, but to nudge. Right. Yeah, The idea is 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.160 being that you would you would detonate the device over 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:29.600 the asteroid. This would actually, um cause a couple of 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.079 things to happen, And it's you know, it's interesting that 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.719 again that we're talking about something. You know, you might say, hey, 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:37.960 you just said nuking is bad. Well, in this case, 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.920 what would happen is that you would uh create an 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.559 uh A nuclear radiation would create this uh, this vaporizing 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.400 energy and vaporize the surface or a section of the 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.920 surface of the asteroid. Now that's going to cause that 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.840 part of the surface to eject material into space. And 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:56.920 you know, for a reaction action, there's an equal and 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.840 opposite reaction, So that ejection from space is actually gonna 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:05.040 as a pushing force on the asteroid. And it's tiny, 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.199 but that's all you need necessary. You know, that might 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:09.400 be all you need to move that asteroid out of 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:13.120 the pathway of the Earth. So yeah, um, you're just 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.920 using it again to to give the asteroid a little push. Um. Actually, 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:21.720 most of the the options I've seen are some variation 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.200 on pushing the asteroid. It's just lots of different potential 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.480 ways we could do that. Well, that's true. I did 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.920 read uh Yeah, to be fair, I did read of 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.560 the possibility of using an inert uh device, nothing that explodes, 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:39.000 but basically a bullet if you will, to shove. Yeah, 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.720 using using kinetic force to push the asteroid out of 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:49.560 the way. Yeah, that is another potential um solution, although 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.400 it's it's again one of those that that has its 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.920 own set of difficulties. But Yeah, that's that is what 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.400 I've also heard where you're just using a kinetic force 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.800 to to hap the asteroid out of the way. And 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:07.560 it's it's important to note that, UM. What we really 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:12.280 can't stress how much detection and identifying the the object 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:16.480 path how important that is because UM, there there's an 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:21.000 effect called the Yarkowsky effect. Did you read about this, um, 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:23.960 As the object gets close to the sun, closer to 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:26.520 the Sun, UM. And I'm not talking about directly on 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:28.360 a path too, but you know, as it gets closer 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.600 and closer to the Sun in the center of our 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:35.040 solar system, it's going to heat up. UM. And for 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:39.120 a larger object it doesn't matter so much. UM. But 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:44.280 according uh to an article that I um than an 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.120 article I read, the the Yarkovsky effect basically means that 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.120 once the the object starts to heat up, the heat 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:56.040 can affect its path. It can basically started to move 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.880 in a slightly different direction. So you need to be 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:00.800 able to we would need to be able to know 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:05.400 exactly where the or as least as close enough to 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.000 uh where the object is going to be, so that 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.840 we can accurately hit it with something. If we're going 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.800 to try to use a brute force method of moving 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:16.960 the the asteroid out of the way, and a lot 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.720 of the attempts to move asteroids may depend upon sun, 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.880 the sunlight and the Sun's power. Because um there are 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.600 a lot of different options that would harness the power 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:31.240 of the Sun in order to create a pulling effect 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:35.200 or pushing effect on the the asteroid. For example, there's 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:40.840 one UM one possible technique where we would coat the 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:47.240 asteroid with white and dark coating like paint or dust 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:52.360 or whatever, and that would uh cause it to move 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.880 because the Sun's energy would actually push against the asteroid. 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.680 And if we coded the rights the correct side, not 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:00.880 the right side, I mean there's no real right or left, 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.680 but the correct side of the asteroid, it could push 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.560 the asteroid those couple of degrees. By the time it 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:09.800 gets to where the Earth is, it's millions of miles away, 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.160 and it's it's millions of miles off course from hitting 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:16.919 the Earth. UM Similarly, there were suggestions that maybe we 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.720 could create a solar sale that would attach we we 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.760 would use a like a probe to attach a solar 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:27.280 sale to an asteroid, and the solar sale would catch 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:31.200 the Sun's energy and be propelled by the solar wind, 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:37.159 essentially to pull the asteroid again outside of its pathway. Um. 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.679 That that's kind of a far fetched one, really. I mean, 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.639 it's definitely a lot more challenging than say, coading an 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:48.240 asteroid with a light colored material. Um. But then there's 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.400 also the idea of using a net, an enormous net 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:54.960 to encapsulate the the the asteroid, and the net would 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.080 again act as almost like a solar sale. It would 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.560 it would react again, you know, the sun. The Sun's 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.560 energy would push against the net, which again would alter 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:09.840 the course of the asteroid. Um. Mirrors are another potential 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:14.639 UH solution, where you you launch a device that is 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.400 going to deploy mirrors around the asteroid to direct sunlight 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.439 to specific points on the asteroid to again push it 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.879 out of the way. Um. Well, everyone knows that asteroids 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:27.080 are vain, so if you, you know, put the mirrors 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:28.840 on the far side of the Earth, they'll go toward 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:34.720 the mirrors and go, oh, my best side, I look good. Um. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:36.600 But then there are a couple of other elements. There 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:38.560 are a couple other ways of nudging an asteroid all 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.119 the way that don't involve sunlight at all. UH. And 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:44.639 one of them, and one of them's strapping a rocket 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:48.800 to it. So essentially you have a UM, do we 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:52.120 have to land somebody on the asteroid. No, not necessarily, 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:56.560 you'd have to have some sort of of remotely operated 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:02.320 probe that could embed into the asteroid itself and then 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:05.440 use um have enough fuel in it to be able 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:09.320 to push as a rocket to push the asteroid out 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:13.639 of the way of the pathway of collision. Now it 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:15.280 doesn't have to push very hard, it doesn't have to 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:17.359 push for very long. Again, as long as you catch 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:19.880 the asteroid early enough that we have to keep stressing 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:22.320 that this is This is assuming that we capture, that 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:24.800 we detect the asteroid and years and years and years 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:27.080 in advance, and that we're able to react quickly enough 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:29.280 so that by the time the probe reaches the asteroid, 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:31.359 because you remember, this isn't gonna be overnight. It's gonna 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:34.560 take time for the for whatever solution we deploy to 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:37.359 get to the asteroid. Like it maybe you know, we 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:39.240 launched something and we don't know if it's gonna work 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:41.959 for another two years or three years. I mean, it's 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.480 kind of scary to think about, but that's true. So 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:48.520 UM Yeah, you have to figure out a way where 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.280 you have this this device, and it has to be 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:53.159 able to carry enough fuel so that it can actually 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:56.760 deploy properly. A lot of people suggest that this kind 0:19:56.800 --> 0:19:59.600 of approach would be best if it were already space born. 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.680 So in other words, we already had some sort of 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:07.639 launching platform in space so that the uh, the individual 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:11.320 probes would not need so much fuel to both escape 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.920 the arts gravity and land on an asteroid and then 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:18.240 propel it away. Um. That that does prose a problem. 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:22.760 But then another one is the gravity tractor. Ah. Yes, 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.439 and I when I looked up the gravity tractor, I 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:28.879 had to check just a moment ago, and yes, someone 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.320 has named their band gravity Tractor. Good for them, Yeah, 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:38.400 lead singer John Dear, nice, thank you. Um, but yeah, 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:44.520 the gravity tractor is fascinating, um, because this is essentially 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:49.040 using a different body and the gravity of another body 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:53.080 and body that we would launch into space to pull 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:56.399 the asteroid away without even I mean there's not the 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:58.840 point here is not even a touch the asteroid. It's 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:03.080 to get something near enough to it to affect um 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.439 the asteroids path with another gravitational field. Right, Because you 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:10.760 gotta remember everything in the universe exerts a gravitational pull 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.000 on everything else. It's just that that poll is dependent 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:17.480 upon distance and mass and lots of other stuff. But 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:19.720 they you know, so if you are able to put 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:23.240 a massive enough object close enough to the asteroid, you 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:25.879 could alter its pathway. There is there are some problems 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:29.919 with the gravity tractor, really yeah. One of them is 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:32.320 that you have to figure out are a Well, you 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.320 want the gravity tractor to pull the asteroid away from 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:37.000 the path of collision. You don't want the asteroid to 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:40.480 pull the gravity tractor into the path of collision. So 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:42.760 so that means that you would have to have some 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:46.760 sort of propulsion system aboard the gravity tractor to make 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.960 little course corrections and continue to gently pull the asteroid 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:53.680 out of its pathway. Well, if you have propulsion, then 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:57.400 there's the possibility that propulsion that you're going to when 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:00.439 you fire your rockets to to give it a boost, 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:04.320 that force may push against the asteroid, thus negating the 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.399 gravity pull that you are exerting upon it. So essentially 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:12.480 you're getting a net zero result because that you're you're 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:14.399 pulling it out with gravity, but you're pushing on it 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:17.119 with your propulsion. System. So finding a way where you 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:21.840 could create some sort of gravity tractor where the propulsion 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:26.480 system would not actually push against the asteroid itself is 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:28.800 would be part of the solution. Plus this would be 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:32.920 really really expensive. It's a much more costly approach and 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:37.560 not necessarily uh the most easy to implement compared to 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:41.199 other approaches. So I don't know that this is necessarily 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:44.720 likely to happen. I mean, if if enough research goes 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:46.679 into it where it proves that this is the most 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:51.199 effective way, then sure I can see it happening, just 0:22:51.240 --> 0:22:53.199 because people would finally say, all right, well, you know, 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:56.479 we have to invest in it, because we can't. We 0:22:56.520 --> 0:23:01.440 can't just play roulette all our existence. We have to 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:04.320 prepare for this. UM. But I would imagine that we'd 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:09.600 probably go with some other route before we tried this one. Yeah. 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:13.399 An article I read suggested that the the gravity tractor 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:17.840 would have to be at least uh twenty tons in 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:22.120 order to safely toe you know, effectively to I should say, 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:27.080 not safely effectively to and an asteroid away from the Earth. UM. 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:31.119 And I can't you know, I just imagine that's going 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:34.200 to be very hard to get out of the Earth's orbit. 0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:36.479 I mean, you know, our gravity. I'm sorry to leave 0:23:36.480 --> 0:23:38.639 the gravitational field of the Earth to launch something that 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:43.200 big into space. But you know, I'm not a rocket scientist, 0:23:43.320 --> 0:23:47.560 so nor are you a brain surgeon. Now I'm not 0:23:47.600 --> 0:23:51.600 a rocket surgeon either, so um, well that's good. I 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:54.160