Members of the United Nations (UN) met with some astronauts who have warned the organization of near-earth objects (NEOs) and ways of protecting the planet.
Scientists evaluate that there are nearly 1 million NEOs that are potential threats to the planet and only a small number of these NEOs have been detected by telescopes. Edward Lu, a former NASA astronaut said that the challenge is to find these NEOs before they crash into the Earth.
Lu also co-founded the B612 Foundation in 2002, which is building an infrared space telescope called the Sentinel Space Telescope. The main aim of the telescope will be to locate threatening NEOs. The B612 Foundation hopes that the infrared telescope will launch by 2018.
Once the Sentinel telescope is up and working, it will enable space agencies to identify threatening NEOs years before they hit Earth. Space agencies will have enough time to take action like deploying a spacecraft towards the asteroid to divert its path.
"The question is, which way do you move [the asteroid]?" said a former NASA astronaut and B612 co-founder Russell Schweickart. "If something goes wrong in the middle of the deflection, you have now caused havoc in some other nation that was not at risk. And, therefore, this decision of what to do, how to do it and what systems to use have to be coordinated internationally. That's why we took this to the United Nations."
In February this year, an explosion over Chelyabinsk, Russia, made people aware of the dangers that can arise due to an asteroid crash. The asteroid entered the Earth's atmosphere with an estimated speed of 18.6 km per sec (over 41,000 mph or 66 960 km per hour). The asteroid measured 17 meters (56 feet) in diameter and its explosion, after it entered Earth's atmosphere, injured around 1,000 people and also shattered many glasses in the city.
The Sentinel telescope would help scientists in finding such asteroids and may enable space agencies to avert any danger.
