COSMIC COLLISION

   In   the   beginning  of  1991,  an
asteriod  with  the  diameter of 8000m
missed  planet  Earth by 170 000km, or
as  the astronomers would say - a very
very  near  miss!   This  things could
happen  again  in  the future.  Here's
what could happen...

   Asteriods  are huge rocks which are
found  in  the  orbit beyond the Mars.
They  are  concentrated in a so called
'asteriod belt' and most of the are at
a  safe distance from the Earth.  Most
are,  but some of them didn't like the
orbit  near  the  Mars.   Some of them
revolve  in  the dangerous zone around
us,  and  some of them often end up in
our   atmosphere.     That   asteroids
represent   a  great  danger  for  our
survival  even more because it is hard
to  predict  the  consequences of such
close  encounters.  A military attempt
to   create   a   computer   simulated
asteriod collision  ended  up with the
results  which  were classified as Top
Secret  and  they were never released,
because  they  didn't  want to disturb
the public!!!  But as The Outer Limits
is  here  to  make  sure  you are kept
informed  we  bring  you the exclusive
and shocking results!

   Counting    upon   possible   close
encounters  it  is  calculated that an
object with the diameter of a 5km hits
the  Earth  once  every  100 000 to 10
million  years.  This estimate is done
upon  all  previous  information about
space  projectiles  which  fell on the
Earth.   Only  greater  asteriods  are
taken  into  consideration because the
information  about the smaller ones is
so  hard to gather.  The impact of one
such 'greater' asteriod with the Earth
would  unleash the energy equal to the
explosion  of  10  million megatons of
TNT.   For comparison's sake, the bomb
on Hiroshima released the energy equal
to  the  explosion  of  13 000 tons of
TNT.   That's  a  mere 0,13 percent of
the asteroid hit.  THE ESTIMATIONS SAY
THAT  IF AN ASTEROID WITH THE DIAMETER
OF  ONLY  500 METERS HIT THE EARTH, IT
WOULD   DESTROY   THE   WHOLE   MODERN
CIVILISATION  AND  WOULD  KILL MOST OF
THE  POPULATION!!!   Now  sit back and
think  about  that!   These horrifying
estimations  go so far that it is even
calculated that the possibility of YOU
being  killed  by such asteriod hit is
THREE  TIMES MORE LIKELY than that you
will  die  in a airplane accident!  So
if  you  die in a plane crash consider
yourself lucky!
   It  is  estimated  that  there  are
around   1030   asteriods   that  pass
through  the  Earth's  orbit.   At the
moment   neither   of  them  is  on  a
collision  course towards Earth.  This
is  a VERY brave statement, because we
know  the  exact trajectory of only 77
of  them!  The orbit of 4900 asteroids
is known.  Most of them would burn out
in  the  atmosphere, but there are 128
of  them  which  are can be considered
dangerous,  51  with  the  diameter of
200m,  rest of them between 1 and 5km.
Until  now  no  asteriods with 10km of
diameter are known, and it is probable
that  one  such asteroid hit the Earth
65  million  years  ago,  causing  the
extinction of the dinosauruses and the
death  of  60  percent  of life in the
oceans.   Smaller  ones  are much more
frequently  passing the Earth and they
are  only  visible  when they come too
close.  One of them, BA 1991, with the
size  between 5 and 10km whistled past
our head in the beginning of 1991!
   So,  what  can  we  do about all of
this?   There  are several problems in
the  task of avoiding the catastrophy.
Firstly, you have to detect the coming
asteriod.   There  are several ways of
doing  this.   The cheapest technique:
watching  the  skies,  looking for the
fastly   moving  objects.   Also,  the
common  technique is photography.  The
astronomers  repeatedly take a picture
of  a  part of the sky, and search for
the differences.  Eventual differences
are  then  compared with the positions
of   the   known   objects   and   the
calculations    of   the   speed   and
direction  is  made.  Also, radars are
used for  discovering  the  asteriods.
Som  what  can  we do when we discover
the  dangerous asteriod?  Well, mostly
nothing.   But,  the  military experts
are  saying that is possible to modify
the  satelites  from  the  SDI  (Space
Defence  Initiative) programme or what
is   commonly   known   as  Star  Wars
project,   so  they  can  destroy  the
oncoming  asteriod.   For  now that is
not  possible because the modification
would cost too much, and they are also
'needed'   for  other  (SDI)  military
purposes.  It is also interesting that
most   of  these  satelites  have  the
infra-red  sensors  which  are able to
detect    the    variations   of   the
temperature   which  can  be  used  to
detect  asteriods!   Furthermore  this
kind  of  information  is  now  simply
discraded   because  it  has  no  real
military value!
   Well if one day the human kind wins
the  battle  over  it's own stupidity,
maybe  it  will  be possible to modify
these   satelites  and  build  up  the
Strategic   Asteriod   Defence  System
(SADS)  as  requested  by the numerous
astronomers at their conventions.

   In  the  C-1289 constellation there
is  a  planet on which blue and yellow
people  live.  The fate wanted them to
share the same planet, and the problem
was  that  they  were  terribly  upset
because  of  the  other's color.  They
argued,   negotiated,   destroyed  and
waged  war  at  each  other.  And when
finally  they were just about to reach
an  agreement on how to live together,
the 2654 LA asteroid, 5km in diameter,
fell  on  their  planet and eliminated
the problem...


           Dr.J/PLS