Word: neos
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...understandably nervous about putting a standby squadron of nuclear-tipped missiles in place. Hence the latest strategy, which in some cases would obviate the need for a nuclear defense: propelling a fusillade of cannonball-size steel spheres at an approaching asteroid. In a high-velocity encounter with a speeding NEO, explains Gregory Canavan, a senior scientist at Los Alamos, "the kinetic energy of the balls would change into heat energy and blow the thing apart...
...Earth. Most of the large ones, they say, could be cataloged within a decade, given the necessary funding. But budgets are tight, congressional support is lacking, and NASA has opted to continue only its relatively modest $1 million annual support for three independent groups with telescopes specifically dedicated to NEO hunting. These teams are headed by Tom Gehrels at the University of Arizona, Helin at J.P.L. and Shoemaker at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona...
Even with NASA's support, the NEO hunters have had to scrounge from industry and other donors for much of their equipment. "Times have been very lean in this past year," says Helin. "There've been times when I was receiving no salary at all." Despite the travails, however, Shoemaker is confident that improving technology will enable astronomers, even at the current level of funding, to identify perhaps 50% of the NEOs in the next decade...
...what if one of them is found to be on a collision course with Earth? Scientists at the Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories have devised a number of ingenious plans that, given enough warning time, could protect Earth from a threatening NEO. Their defensive weapons of choice include long-distance missiles with conventional or, more likely, nuclear warheads that could be used either to nudge an asteroid into a safe orbit or blast it to smithereens...
Some astronomers oppose any immediate defensive preparations, citing the high costs and low odds of a large object's striking Earth in the coming decades. But at the very least, Shoemaker contends, NEO detection should be accelerated. "There's this thing called the 'giggle factor' in Congress," he says. "People in Congress and also at the top level in NASA still don't take it seriously. But we should move ahead. It's a matter of prudence...