According to experts’ calculations, an asteroid called Apophis could crash into the Earth on the Easter Sunday of 2036. This grim prediction has created anxieties in the world of astronomy; in fact Russel Schweickart, the esteemed ex astronaut of Apollo 9 has asked the UN to widen the case in order to be prepared and avoid a disaster.
In 2029 the asteroid will pass very close to our planet so that we will be able to see it with the naked eye. Actually, the probabilities that Apophis will have an impact with the Earth are not very high, but we can’t discard the eventuality as in some previous cases.
The asteroid is 390 metres of diameter, less than the one which 65 million years ago crashed into the planet causing the death of the overwhelming majority of species and the extinction of the dinosaurs. The point is that, if it collided with Earth. it would cause a catastrophe and a high number of victims.
There is some interesting theoretical research about the possible ways to avoid the impact, for example that of the gravitational tractor, which consists of launching a space ship near the asteroid and hooking it up, exploiting the ship’s gravity, then moving the space ship in order to tow the asteroid and move it to another orbit.
However, not all the scientists are worried about asteroids. On the contrary, some of them think that they are a precious resource because they are full of minerals. Nasa itself is already thinking of organising a mission on an asteroid to extract minerals.
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