Space & Astronomy

Could paintball one day save the planet ?

By T.K. Randall
October 29, 2012 ·  14 comments

Image Credit: NASA Sung Wook Paek's proposal to save the world from an asteroid impact might not be quite as exciting as those explored in movies such as 'Armageddon' and 'Deep Impact' but in the event that we are ever threatened by a chunk of rock large enough to wipe out all life on Earth his technique might one day save us all.

Paek's idea involves firing large numbers of paint balls at the approaching asteroid so that parts of it ends up coated in a thin layer of paint. The force exerted on the paint by the Sun's photons would then gradually build up and push the asteroid off course so that it misses the Earth. The concept has proven so impressive that Paek has won a competition sponsored by the United Nations Space Generation Advisory Council that had been set up to find the best solution.

There is one snag however - it could take up to 20 years to apply the amount of paint needed for the plan to work.[!gad]Sung Wook Paek's proposal to save the world from an asteroid impact might not be quite as exciting as those explored in movies such as 'Armageddon' and 'Deep Impact' but in the event that we are ever threatened by a chunk of rock large enough to wipe out all life on Earth his technique might one day save us all.

Paek's idea involves firing large numbers of paint balls at the approaching asteroid so that parts of it ends up coated in a thin layer of paint. The force exerted on the paint by the Sun's photons would then gradually build up and push the asteroid off course so that it misses the Earth. The concept has proven so impressive that Paek has won a competition sponsored by the United Nations Space Generation Advisory Council that had been set up to find the best solution.

There is one snag however - it could take up to 20 years to apply the amount of paint needed for the plan to work.

Source: The Independent | Comments (14)

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