[meteorite-list] 'Science Stud' Hosts PBS Show on Killer Asteroids

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Oct 3 15:48:33 2006
Message-ID: <200610031948.MAA15879_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=apDrUh8ZAePA&refer=muse

`Science Stud' Hosts Show on Killer Asteroids, Flying `Tractor'
By Dave Shiflett
Bloomberg.com

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Geek chic is alive and well on PBS, where Neil
deGrasse Tyson -- billed as the ``sexiest astrophysicist alive'' --
debuts as host of the ``Science Now'' series tomorrow night [October 3].

Tyson, planetarium director at New York's American Museum of Natural
History, may not strike all viewers as a latter-day Adonis, though he's
definitely a few notches up from Albert Einstein.

The science stud wears jeans, denim shirt and a brown vest in the
opener; the absence of a lab coat, horn-rimmed glasses and distracted
air tell us he's a brainiac of a different stripe.

I suspect most viewers are likely to be more interested in the substance
of the show, including an arresting lead segment on a subject dear to
insomniacs: the possibility of the Earth being struck by a killer asteroid.

It has happened several times before, we're reminded, including a
massive strike by an asteroid the size of Everest some 65 million years
ago, which among other things is credited with exterminating the dinosaurs.

Tyson, pleasantly calm when discussing the possibility of being smashed
to smithereens, visits fellow geeks at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
who tell him a soaring projectile named Apophis may be headed toward Earth.

Flying `Tractor'

While not Everest-sized, it is about as large as the Rose Bowl and could
deliver an impact equivalent to 100 nuclear weapons going off at once.
Bada-bang, indeed. An early estimate posited a 1-in-37 chance the strike
would come April 13, 2029 -- a Friday, as it happens -- though the
impact date has since been postponed to sometime in 2036.

The good news, Tyson discovers, is that we don't have to simply sit here
and suffer a cosmic whacking. A bit of pre- emption could change the
asteroid's path, though the favored Hollywood cure -- nuking the
intruder -- would shower the Earth with deadly debris.

Better to sic a ``gravitational tractor'' on the intruder; an animation
sequence shows a large, unmanned space vehicle flying along just ahead
of the asteroid, slightly changing its speed and path.

Investors take note: There are at least 4,000 ``near Earth'' asteroids
that come in various sizes and shapes; some resemble giant cucumbers,
potatoes and dog bones. The grav-trac industry could become the next big
thing.

[snip]

Tyson points out that the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65
million years ago also cleared the way for the development of human
beings. And that, he says, is ``the cosmic perspective.''

No word yet on who or what may be waiting in the wings should Homo
sapiens suffer a similar hit.

For more information on the program, see
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow .

(Dave Shiflett is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed
are his own.)
Received on Tue 03 Oct 2006 03:48:30 PM PDT