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Mathematician Hermann Burchard, of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, USA, proposes to use air bags to soften the blow of an asteroid impact, reports New Scientist magazine. Burchard, however, doesn't want to soften the impact of an asteroid with the Earth but to soften a blow on an asteroid to enable it to be moved away from a collision course with the Earth. One of the difficulties in deflecting asteroids to avert a collision is that despite their solid appearance asteroids are thought to be piles of rubble generated by billions of years of collisions with other asteroids. Observations by spacecraft that many asteroids have much lower densities than would be expected are thought to indicate the presence of voids between large blocks if rubble. Trying to deflect an asteroid with a single blow delivered using explosives or an impactor might break such rubble piles up and some of the pieces might still collide with Earth. Burchard suggests that a large bag filled with gas could be used to soften the blow and push rubble piles along.
Many other techniques have been proposed to change the course of asteroids including solar sails and engines as well as a single blow delivered by an impact or explosion. Several space missions intend to test deflection technologies and strategies to provide information on exactly how an asteroid would behave if it ever is necessary to alter the path of such an object. Scientists, however, agree that the first task in protecting the Earth is to continue to search for these NEOs. Currently around 600 Near Earth Objects larger than 1 km have been found out of the 1000 that expected. Only a single asteroid has a moderate chance of 1 in 300 of colliding with the Earth, asteroid 1950DA, in the year 2880. Having tens to hundreds of years warning will probably be the most crucial factor in exactly how we would deal with an asteroid on a collision course with our planet.
More info: New Scientist
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