Asteroid on a Direct Path to Collide with Earth in 2036

My wife's usual response when I discuss an impossible plot or scene in a film is, "It's just a movie. Of course it's not real." That may be true for most of American cinema, but for movies like Armageddon and Deep Impact, both of which deal with a crisis involving a meteor colliding with Earth, they are more real than ever. According to AOL News, there is an asteroid on a direct path to collide with Earth in 2036. This asteroid, named Apophis, has an arrival date of April 13, 2036.

Before you start building your underground shelter, it's important for you to know that the chances of it actually making contact with the Earth are very slim. In fact, the chances are 1 in 45,000, to be exact. Although, Apophis isn't the only meteor that NASA is tracking. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of meteors and rocks that pose a thread to Earth, including a thousand yard-wide asteroid that is on a collision course with Earth in 2880. However, these numbers are still too close for comfort and a group of engineers are scientists are urging the United Nations to step in and develop the blue print for a global response to deal with such an issue. The Association of Space Explorers have already started working on the matter and will present a solution to the United Nations in 2009.

There are several different theories and principles on how NASA could deal with an asteroid threat. One of the easiest ways to deflect an asteroid like Apophis is to alter the surface, including the amount of heat energy it radiates. This thermal emission serves as the fuel for the asteroid, and if the asteroid's surface is somehow manipulated then ultimately it will affect its orbit and path. Just changing a small section on an asteroid will be enough for the asteroid to narrowly miss the Earth. This theory, called the Yarkovsky Effect, is often referred to as how an asteroid's trajectory can be manipulated by the amount of heat radiation.

According to AOL News, another approach would be to launch a spacecraft that would alter gravity so the asteroid will change its trajectory. The spacecraft, called a Gravity Tractor, would remain near the asteroid and after a few efforts to "tug" it the asteroid would change the course. The site estimates that, taking the size of the Apophis asteroid into consideration, it would take approximately twelve days of "tugging" in order for the operation to be successful. The mission is reported to costs hundreds of millions of dollars, but I'd say that it's the best money that taxpayers ever spent.

After all, this 460-foot object could take out an entire city or region, but the ultimate conclusion would be catastrophic and the asteroid's harmful effect would not discriminate from any country or city. Depending on what the asteroid is made of and how it hits the Earth would ultimately determine our fate. However, if it hit just right then the entire world and life forms, as we know it, would cease to exist.

Where are Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck when you need them the most?