Strangely Un-Reassuring

A year after we warned you about the menace of Giant Rocks From Space, the United Nations has taken notice of the problem.  The solution:  they're going to have some meetings.

Fortunately for those of us who live on Earth, the risk of asteroid Apophis crashing into the planet isn't as high as once feared.  It's now down to 1 in 45,000.  That's reassuring, because I'm sure many people's reaction to the news that the UN was going to deal with the issue was the same as mine:  "We're all going to die!"

Apophis is a relatively tiny asteroid -- only 300 meters across and weighing in at a mere 20 million tons.  Of course, such a mass striking the Earth at planetary speeds would release as much energy as all the world's nuclear weapons.  If it struck in the ocean (as would be likely), the splash would likely cause tsunamis across large areas of seacoast.  Dust from the impact would affect climate for years afterward.

The science fiction writer Larry Niven once observed that "The dinosaurs died out because they didn't have a space program."  Fortunately we do have one, and former astronauts like Russell Schweickart.  He's the chairman of the B612 Foundation, a group dedicated to developing techniques to divert asteroids which might pose a threat to Earth.

So we're perfectly safe . . .