Argumentative Essay On Meteors

Observations by NASA, have shown that asteroid AG5 could hit Earth in 2040. Though there is only a 1 in 500 chance the asteroid will hit Earth, scientists, are not certain of this calculation due to their lack of knowledge of the asteroid’s mass, orbit, and material composition. Therefore, astronomers and agencies, such as the UN, are already taking action. In fact, the UN has even suggested using nuclear weapons against the asteroid. If such an asteroid were to impact a city it could result in millions of deaths. Though humanity could survive, the asteroid would cause major reparation costs and destroy the lives of every day citizens.

There are two parts that we must face when solving this problem, the short-term and long-term solution.

Though not much was discussed the danger of this impending issue was recognized internationally allowing for people to view this as a global issue. Another plan of action was debated among the UN Action Team on near-Earth objects. Here ideas were spread of using nuclear weapons to break apart the asteroid which would hopefully burn up upon reentry and change trajectory. However, scientists are hoping to refrain from such extreme measures.

According to an article done by the Tulane University, the Earth passes through a periodic time of meteor showers in which it enters a belt of high concentration cosmic dust and other particles. It is during this time when many meteors are observed. In fact, just in the year of 2003 alone the US sustained two meteor showers, one crashing through a 2 story house in uptown New Orleans while another shower of meteorites destroyed several houses and injured 20

With over 10,000 asteroids and comets having been already identified and cataloged in the NASA NEO database, a plan is needed for both preventing and detecting these objects in space before they become a imminent danger to earth.

To reduce or prevent the possibility of an asteroid from hitting earth, the NEO project identified multiple techniques for deflecting or destroying asteroids (from small to large objects). These techniques range from using nuclear weapons to solar sails (using solar wind) to push the asteroids “off-course” form their in-bound trajectory to earth. The goal of the NEO project is identify ninety percent of the large asteroid objects (larger than 450 feet in diameter) by the 2020.

15MS03

7th Grade

Summary Conclusion

The different technologies and techniques investigated for diverting asteroids from hitting the earth