Space agencies around the world are working to build planetary defense capabilities to protect Earth from asteroids and ISRO also wants to take responsibility in this regard. Representative image/AP
Apophis, a near-Earth asteroid, described as the most dangerous of the present era with a diameter of 370 meters, will fly by us on April 13, 2029 and again in 2036. India, as a leading space nation, must also take the responsibility of protecting the Earth from asteroids, said Dr. S. Somanath
A huge burst of air from an asteroid flattened about 2,200 square kilometers of dense forest and destroyed nearly 80 million trees in Tunguska, a remote place in Siberia, on June 30, 1908. the current era, 370 meters in diameter, will fly by on April 13, 2029, and again in 2036. An asteroid impact of 10 km or larger is considered an extinction-scale event, killing most species. its consequences. Such an impact is believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Space agencies around the world are working to build planetary defense capabilities to protect Earth from asteroids and ISRO also wants to take responsibility in this regard.
“Our lifespan is 70-80 years and we’ve never seen a catastrophe like this in our lifetime, so we take it for granted that it’s not likely. If you look at the history of the world and the universe, these events are frequent…the approach of an asteroid to the planets and its impact. I watched an asteroid hit Jupiter, Shoemaker-Levy hit. If such an event happens on Earth, we will all become extinct,” said ISRO chief S Somanath. “These are real possibilities. We have to prepare. We don’t want this to happen to mother earth. We want humanity and all life forms to live here. But we can’t stop it. We have to find alternatives to that. So we have a method to deflect it. We can detect near earth approach and take it away and sometimes it can be impossible too. So technology needs to be developed, predictive capabilities, the ability to send heavier supports to deflect it, improve observation and work with other nations on protocol.”
In recent years, several scientific missions to explore asteroids and return samples have greatly improved the understanding of asteroids. The recent successful demonstration of kinetic impactor technology for asteroid deflection by the DART mission has further fueled global interest in the field. ISRO says it has also started planetary defense activities.
“It will take shape in the next few days. When a threat becomes real, humanity will come together and work on it. As a leading space nation, we must take responsibility. It’s not just for India alone, but for the entire world, we have to shoulder the burden to prepare and develop the technical capability, the programming capability to do that and the ability to collaborate with other agencies,” the ISRO chief said.
ISRO also organized a workshop on World Asteroid Day (June 30) where leading experts from space agencies such as JAXA and ESA delivered technical talks on Hayabusa-2 asteroid mission, ongoing planetary defense activities and asteroid monitoring by ESA and the role of the organization such as IAWN (International Asteroid Warning Network) and SMPAG (Space Mission Planning Advisory Group) in dealing with asteroid impact threats.
“Experiments are underway to see if an asteroid strike is expected within a year and if we are prepared to defend,” said Anil Kumar, deputy director of ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC).
