Speaking at a press conference in Luxembourg, leading astrophysicist and senior figure in UK science, Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees, has warned world leaders that the planet was extremely vulnerable to the threat of an asteroid strike, and “several hundred million” should be spent annually on protective measures as an insurance policy. “We are all aware that we on planet Earth are vulnerable to impacts from outside, these have happened in the past. It may not be the greatest risk confronting Earth, but if you make an assessment of what premium is worth paying to reduce impact, you would come up with a figure of several hundred million a year, which the world should be spending to reduce this risk,” Lord Martin Rees said. Presently, there are only two asteroid detection systems in operation internationally; NASA’s Scout and Sentry programs. The former looks for Near-Earth Objects, the latter searches for asteroids large enough to destroy cities. These systems cannot observe every point in the sky simultaneously, and even if the pair identified a dangerous asteroid, there is currently no dedicated deflection system in place to halt the asteroid’s progress, or mitigate its impact. 100x #AsteroidDay Signatory Lord Martin Rees on asteroids. Join the movement http://t.co/HU8dezeIoz @AsteroidDay pic.twitter.com/qQmQAFhtZs — Asteroid Day ☄ (@AsteroidDay) December 14, 2014 Lord Martin Rees is just the latest expert to caution against doomsday asteroids. In December 2016, NASA… Read full this story
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