• Question: If an asteroid was heading for Earth and could do serious damage, would you use the ISS to stop it knowing it would get destroyed?

    Asked by Frozen comet to Anne, Beth, COLFlight, Jon, Tom on 11 Oct 2015.
    • Photo: Columbus Flight Directors

      Columbus Flight Directors answered on 11 Oct 2015:

      Sergio:
      Hi Frozen comet,

      today, the best protection we have from asteroids is the Earth’s atmosphere. Did you know that every year about 50 million kilograms of meteorites fall to the Earth?

      Luckily, the friction with the atmosphere when they arrive at such high speed, generates enough heat to make them burn to ashes!
      The big ones are actually visible when they burn, these are the falling stars. And some of them, very rarely, are so big they actually look like a big fireball. Check the video about the big asteorid who hit Russia in 2013:

      If there was an asteroid so big not to burn with the atmosphere and to get to ground still big enough to threaten humanity, that would be so big that the ISS would for sure not be able to stop it!
      If we ever see such a big asteorid arriving, I think we should put a big atomic bomb on top of a rocket and launch it up to the asteroid, trying to break it in pieces or to change its trajectory so that it misses us. 😉

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