In other space news Star Trek tractor beam is offered to save Planet Earth from asteroid ArmageddonX. The Laser Tractor beam is one of three ways world’s top scientist will save us from possible planet eradicators.

Washington / NationalTurk –  A new international consortium of top scientist has been set up to figure out what Earthlings could do if an asteroid came hurtling towards the planet on a path of imminent destruction.

Project NEOShield : Savior of Planet Earth

The project NEOShield focuses on three methods of averting Armegeddon disaster: the Hollywoodesque solution of sending up a team of deep drillers with a powerful nuclear bomb to explode it, or frantically hurling all of our nuke arsenal at it; dragging it to safety with a Star Trek-inspired tractor beam; or hitting it with something we have more control over, like a big spaceship.

The project will explore the possibilities for kinetic impactors, gravity tractors and blast deflection as ways to save our planet from oblivion.

NEOShield focuses on 3 methodes

NEOShield will be led by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), supported by €4m of European Commission money, and will include research institutes, universities and companies from the UK, France, Spain, Russia and the US as well as Germany.

“There is currently no concerted international plan addressing the impact threat and how to organise, prepare and implement mitigation measures,” a NEOShield initial report reads.

“Protecting the Earth from Near Earth Object (NEO) impacts is a global problem and, as such, any mitigation of damage strategy has to involve at least the most scientifically and technologically capable nations.”

The kinetic impactor idea (slamming into the asteroid with something heavy, like a gigantic spaceship) has already been explored by the European Space Agency in its Don Quijote mission, where it looked at sending a spacecraft to hit the space-rock, but that study didn’t answer every question.

Gravity Tractor is Star Trek tech

“The efficiency of momentum transfer from the impactor ( our spaceship, we will probably name it meotheorf..r ) to the hazardous NEO depends not only on the physical properties of the target… but also on the impact accuracy,” NEOShield stated, adding that it would focus on the guidance, navigation and control of the hit-spacecraft.

The gravity tractor, meanwhile, is strictly theoretical and has only been seen in action on Star Trek series and movies. This is where a spacecraft would affect the asteroid’s intended destructive path by dragging it one way or another using gravitational forces.

There’s obviously lots to be researched out there, new technologies are required including how big the tractor beam has to be, how much power it would take to deflect the NEO, the required distances between the two, how long it would take, and pretty much every other question coming into minds.

Nuke’m all

NEOShield will look finally at the conventional technique of “Hurling all our nukes at it!”, scientifically known as blast deflection, including burying the bomb on asteroid, although it admits that this would only be appropriate in extreme circumstances.

The first problem here will be to stop everyone freaking out when someone fires off a nuke by making sure nuclear response is internationally coordinated.

The scientists will also have to find a way which of the surface or buried blasts would be more effective, and if they did want to bury it, and figure it out if  the “current penetrator or drilling technology” would be sufficient to get the job done.

The NEO project is kicking off this week and is will be running for around three-and-a-half years with hopes to lay out the roadmap so we, the citizens of Earth are ready when an actual significant asteroid impact threat arises.

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