Space & Astronomy

Scientists fear risk from smaller asteroids

By T.K. Randall
December 4, 2014 ·  60 comments

Even small asteroids can pose a significant risk to us here on Earth. Image Credit: NASA Despite extensive efforts to detect and track killer asteroids, scientists this week have warned that we may still be living on borrowed time under the threat of an impact from space.

Of particular concern is that it doesn't take a massive extinction level asteroid to cause a problem - even a relatively small space rock has the potential to send us back to the Dark Ages. "NASA has done a very good job of finding the very largest objects, the ones that would destroy the human race," said astronaut Ed Lu. "It's the ones that would destroy a city or hit the economy for a couple of hundred years that are the problem."

Now a new campaign has been set up by some of the world's leading astronomers and astrophysicists in an effort to encourage world governments to invest more heavily in an effort to detect and deflect these smaller threats from space.

"The more we learn about asteroid impacts, the clearer it becomes that the human race has been living on borrowed time," said astrophysicist and Queen band member Brian May. "The campaign launched this week is intended to raise awareness and put pressure on governments to act."

Source: News.com.au | Comments (60)

Tags: Asteroid, Earth