What if a huge asteroid is headed towards Earth, threatening to wipe out human race? Will we be ready for it? Will we even know it is coming?
As the world observed the very first "Asteroid Day" last June 30, scientists and researchers are stepping up efforts to come up with tools and techniques to be prepared for and to prevent a possible asteroid Armageddon.
For instance, John Tonry from the University of Hawaii is heading the development of telescopes to give Earth at least a week's warning before a swimming pool-sized rock makes direct contact.
"There is real planning going on, and we're actually making progress... People are starting to realise that it's not just a totally stupid idea that an asteroid might cause big damage," Tonry said.
A Hypervelocity Asteroid Intercept Vehicle is also in the works to carry a nuclear bomb to outer space to blow an approaching asteroid into pieces.
Researchers have already calculated that an asteroid can still be destroyed through a nuclear bomb a good distance away from Earth, even hours before it hit our planet. A commercially available rocket can actually be used to bring the bomb into outer space.
Another way to destroy an approaching asteroid, called the "death ray" technique, is also in the early stages of testing. This technique involves sending a spaceship towards the asteroid to aim powerful lasers at its surface.
"You don't carry the propellant to the asteroid. ... We use the asteroid itself as fuel," explained physicist Philip Lubin of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who developed the technique.
Other ideas are also being explored, including using a massive spaceship to slam into an approaching asteroid, thus nudging it off course. Researchers, however, are still studying how big this spaceship should be, and how fast it should approach the asteroid.
