[meteorite-list] Preparing For A 'Deep Impact' in NYC

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:09 2004
Message-ID: <200401261759.JAA20170_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.nyunews.com/artsandentertainment/art/6549.html

Preparing for a "deep impact" in NYC
by Christina Jeng
Washington Square News
January 26, 2004

NYU professor Michael Rampino wants to save the world from asteroids.

Rampino, who teaches biology and
environmental science, has dedicated his time outside the classroom to
studying Juno, a 150-mile-wide chunk of rock and metal hovering between
Mars and Jupiter. His research could help scientists determine the
best way to prevent a marauding asteroid from colliding with Earth.

One of Rampino's recent findings might be his most important yet. While
analyzing images of Juno for a nationwide consortium of scientists,
Rampino discovered that many meteorites found on Earth have the same
composition as Juno.

So, he theorized, something must have hit Juno 500 million years ago,
causing large fragments of the asteroid to shoot toward Earth.

If this occured, then by studying the Juno meteorites, scientists can better prepare for
an asteroid assault that might otherwise result in mass extinctions, like the one that is
thought to have ended the dinosaur age 65 million years ago.

Though Rampino's work might conjure images from recent sci-fi films like "Deep
Impact" and "Armageddon," both of which dramatized the struggle of warding off
incoming asteroids, Rampino noted that the real science of asteroid deflection is much
more complicated than the movies let on.

The approach to deflecting the asteroid in "Armageddon," for example, would be a
recipe for disaster in real life, Rampino said. In the film, a team of oil drillers nuke the
rock into two pieces before it collides with earth.

"You don't want to break it apart, because then you [may] end up with lots of pieces
and they'd still hit the Earth," Rampino said.

Instead, he said, you would want to try to push it aside by detonating a bomb near the
asteroid. That way, it will head in a different direction.

Or, NYU physics professor Marty Hoffert said, you could "[place] a rocket on it to
change its trajectory while it's still far away."

But prior to any pushing or nudging, Massachusetts Institute of Technology planetary
science professor Richard Binzel said, you would have to know what the asteroid was
made of.

"Their compositions range from very lightweight to very heavy iron," he said. "If it's
iron you're guaranteed it will stay in one piece. If it's lightweight it may crumble into
many pieces."

Rampino said that if the asteroid is made of loose material, "it may break up, and you
may end up with lots of things coming at you instead of one big one."

Hoffert said he preferred "Deep Impact" to "Armageddon" because of its more realistic
asteroid-deflection technology. He also noted Robert Duvall's superior performance,
but what really got him was that "Deep Impact" was set in New York.

"I could well imagine being in my office in Meyer Building, seeing the tidal wave roar up
Broadway through my window, and being swept away in the torrent as my last images.
Scary," Hoffert said.

Were an asteroid fragment to splash down in the ocean, as in "Deep Impact," the hit
could trigger massive tsunamis, Hoffert said.

But that wouldn't be the only worry.

According to NASA, if a large asteroid were to hit Earth, it could put enough dust in
the atmosphere to cause an "impact winter." Crops would die worldwide, leading to
starvation and disease. Still larger impacts could cause mass extinction.

Currently, several teams of astronomers worldwide survey the sky with electronic
cameras to find "Near Earth Objects."

"These are objects that orbit in the vicinity of Earth," Binzel said. "But of all of the
ones we've found, none is an immediate threat."
And despite the potential danger that a renegade asteroid could pose, space rocks are
treasure troves of geological data.

"Asteroids are fossils from the beginning of the solar system," Binzel said. "If we want
to understand how the earth is formed, meteorites give us an opportunity to look at the
Earth's building blocks. *"
Received on Mon 26 Jan 2004 12:59:16 PM PST