歐洲欲建太空“防護盾” 防范小行星撞地球

2012-01-31 08:56

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A chunk of rock 400 times the City of London is set to hurtle closer than a rock of its size has in a very long time.

Scientists are trying to find a way to protect Earth from the giant rocks which travel around the Milky Way.

Run out of Berlin with funds from the EU, the NEOShield project, which will look for a way to protect earth from the space rocks, is expected to take three years to complete.

Some of the ideas being tossed around at the moment include repelling asteroids with projectiles or explosives or using gravity to change its course.

The project though is a little late as a chunk of rock 400 times the City of London is set to hurtle closer than a rock of its size has in a very long time.

The asteroid labelled ‘(433) Eros’ measures 19 by 8 by 8 miles and is set to pass by next week.

Despite its massive size, the cosmic rock shouldn’t be too cause too much of a threat as it is on a circular path far outside the moon's orbit.

Nevertheless, with NASA estimating that there are almost one thousand asteroids over one kilometre in length and 19,500 over 100-metres, scientists at the Institute of Planetary Research are trying to find a way to protect Earth.

With an investment of some €4 million by the European Commission and an extra €1.8 million coming from scientific institutions and partners, the German Aerospace Center aims to have a plan for a test mission drafted within three years.

After that, if they can find the extra cash, the mission may be launched by 2020. The scientists will be looking at a host of ideas, many of which have already been proposed.

'Of course, a lot of things have already been proposed,' Alan Harris, the study’s leader, told Spiegel Online. ‘But, so far, most of them have come from a single institution, perhaps even from a single person. So it has been hard to pursue them.’

Investigating each idea ‘will take place on paper and in lab experiments, since we don't have the money to do more than that,’ said Wolfram Lork, who works with a subsidiary on the project.

One other, coarser idea would be ‘blast deflection’ which would involve deterring the asteroid with directed explosive charges. Harris says this would be the ‘final, desperate approach.’

(Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)

科學家正試圖找到能保護地球免遭銀河系巨石撞擊的方法。

歐盟出資贊助的這一“小行星防護盾”項目從柏林起步，目標是尋找一種能保護地球免遭太空巨石撞擊的方法，該項目預期將耗時三年完成。

當前考慮的一些思路包括用導彈、炸藥來擊退小行星或運用地心引力來改變小行星的運行軌道。

不過，這一項目開始得有點晚，因為一塊相當于400個倫敦城的巨石正向地球逼近，而且是很長時間以來這么大的巨石和地球最近距離的接觸。

這一號稱(433) Eros的小行星大小為19*8*8英里，將于下周和地球擦肩而過。

盡管這一太空巨石體積很大，但應該不會對地球造成太大威脅，因為該巨石沿著月球軌道之外距離較遠的一個圓形軌道運行。

然而，美國宇航局估計現在銀河系約有1000顆長度超過1千米的小行星和19500顆長度超過100米的小行星，因此行星研究所的科學家們正努力探尋保護地球的辦法。

對此歐盟委員會已投入400萬歐元，此外科學機構及合作伙伴也投入了180萬歐元。德國宇航中心致力于在三年內用這些資金指定出一個測試任務的計劃。

在那之后，如果還有更多資金來源，他們可能會在2020年前執行這一任務。科學家將考慮許多構想，包括之前提出過的眾多建議。