Scientists plan Asteroid Day for potential impact

An international consortium of astronomers recently convened to schedule a second annual Astroid Day on June 30 to raise awareness on the study of asteroids, according to a report. Astronomers behind the organization think that more effort needs to be devoted to the preparation and prevention of near earth-bound asteroids. June 30 marks the date of the Chelyabinsk asteroid explosion, which occurred over a remote Russian settlement in 1908.

“An event like Chelyabinsk happens once every 50 years and we don’t have a system designed to discover and track these things,” Mark Boslough of Sandia National Laboratories said in a statement. Asteroid Day co-founder Grig Richters also said, “This is not about fear-mongering,” adding, “It’s about being aware there is a potential threat, and understanding better where we are from.” The scientific team intends to develop an asteroid deflection programs.

Tom Jones of the Association of Space Explorers’ Committee on Near-Earth Objects said, “Bringing space technology to bear to deflect asteroids will require widespread public support,” and “We only need modest resources compared to the cost of absorbing impact. Asteroid Day is to educate the public so we can work together to avoid an impact.”

A proposed deflection program would launch in 2020 if approved by authorities. The Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment mission would catapult an impactor at the smaller of the two bodies of the asteroid Didymos to determine the impactor’s impact. Celebrity educator Bill Nye, also a member of the panel, felt that society should prepare for such a catastrophe when technology enables us. “We’ve no evidence the dinosaurs had a space program,” Nye said, “and it cost them.”