Jakarta –
Crash asteroid remains one of the most dangerous natural disasters possible. However, few catastrophes resulting from asteroid collisions are remembered.
Earth is very often hit by ancient asteroids. In the early years of Earth’s formation, our planet, then still very young, was fiercely bombarded by massive ancient asteroids, 10 times more often than previously believed. As a result of the frequent strikes, the possibility of delaying the emergence of life on Planet Earth.
The impacts recorded in this study occurred during the Archean Eon, a period between 2.5 billion and 4 billion years ago. During this time, the planet’s environment was very much different. Undoubtedly, as quoted from the Jerusalem Post, Tuesday (10/26/2021) the asteroid bombardment changed Earth’s landscape even further.
To analyze the remains asteroid, the scientists created a model of the effects of this collision. According to their findings published in the academic journal Nature Geoscience, a large asteroid impact occurs about once every 15 million years. The results of this analysis are 10 times more frequent than the previous modeling predicted.
It’s not even a small asteroid. Some of them are gigantic, or about 10 kilometers long. For comparison, NASA labels asteroids 140 meters or more that approach the planet as Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA) or asteroids that are potentially dangerous because they can cause major damage to Earth.
When this large asteroid hits Earth, it will form an impact ball, then the asteroid melts and evaporates part of the planet’s crust. This causes them to form giant clumps above the surface before the molten rock condenses and hardens.
Then, they will fall back to the planet as particles the size of a grain of sand, settling on the crust. The more layers of balls that appear, the more impact there will be.
The effects of this asteroid impact may go far beyond causing damage to the landscape. In fact, they may have changed the chemical properties of the atmosphere.
Drive away asteroids
The destructive nature of asteroids, even small ones, is of concern to experts. Space agencies around the world are monitoring the potential impacts of disasters, as well as researching potential ways to stop them.
One method for possibly stopping an asteroid impact is through the use of deflection, i.e. launching something to slightly deflect the asteroid’s path.
One of these efforts is by deploying NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission which will be launched in November this year. In layman’s terms, this mission will hit the asteroid with a rocket with enough speed to change its course by a fraction of a percent so it doesn’t hit Earth.
Another method proposed in July 2021 by airline Airbus suggested an alternative to reusing TV satellites, hijacking them and using them to deflect asteroids.
There is still another search, which is to blow up the asteroid using nuclear power while the distance is still far enough so that it doesn’t hit Earth. Another proposed method is to use a kinetic penetrator to detonate the nucleus asteroid, and this method can be performed in much less time.
Watch Videos”NASA’s explanation of the possibility of an asteroid hitting the earth in the future“
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(rns/fay)
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