SEATTLE – The leading proponent of an asteroid early warning system reportedly says it could give Earth at least a week's notice before the rock capable of catastrophic damage would make impact.
What would it do for mankind? It certainly wouldn't be enough time to launch a mission to deflect the space rock, since the technology for that doesn't exist. But, it would allow authorities time to evacuate the predicted impact area, such as a city.
Acccording to an article on Space.com, the proposed network, called the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), would consist of two observatories about 60 miles apart. They would scan the visible sky twice each night. They would help pinpoint the location and time of impact.
Astronomer John Tonry at the University of Hawaii is the leading proponent of the system. He says ATLAS would cost $1 million per observatory, plus $500,000 annually to staff them.
Tonry points to a near-miss in Oct. 2009 as the reason such a system is needed. A 33-foot-long rock exploded as it entered Earth's atmosphere over Indonesia. The blast purportedly was three times the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Nobody was hurt.
In 1908, a roughly 160-foot long asteroid impacted the Tunguska area of Russia. Something that size is likely to hit Earth about once every 1,000 years. The National Research Council says an object that size could kill 30,000 people on average.
Tonry says ATLAS could detect roughly 75 percent of the sky. It would provide three weeks' warning for 460-foot-long objects and one week's notice for 160-foot-long objects. Asteroids like the one that exploded over Indonesia last year might give one day's warning.
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