How to Defend Earth From Asteroids

What, me worry?

Right now, we don't know of any asteroids on an impact course with Earth that could do us serious, global damage. There is a handful we know of that are being watched carefully, but in all those cases the odds of impact are pretty low. If it helps, I'm not lying awake at night fretting about any of them.

I wrote a book, Death from the Skies!, and the first chapter was on asteroid impacts. I wound up spending some quality time thinking about the effects of the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. I have a pretty vivid imagination, and had colorful, terrifying scenes of that day going through my mind as I wrote the grim details down. I've always been fascinated with big disasters -- who isn't? -- but that experience cemented my desire to be involved with all this. After all that, I suppose I would say I'm not worried, but I am concerned. Calculating the odds of a big impact helped, since they are so infrequent.

... but that's not to say no rock will ever hit us. Given enough time, and our inaction, an impact is inevitable. But we're clever animals, us humans, smarter than the dinosaurs ever were. We are just waking up to the dangers in the sky, and I think we're intelligent enough to recognize the threat and take it seriously. We've already begun taking steps in that direction. It will take time, and lots of expertise, and of course a lot of money. But that'll be a pittance compared to the cost of doing nothing.

In the case of astronomy, as is true with most of science, we don't spend money on it. We invest in it.

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form.