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NASA asteroid expert Humberto Campins believes that, although people "as individuals" have "nothing to worry about" regarding an asteroid impact on Earth, human civilization "must prepare" for this threat, which "will happen again."
In an interview with EFE during the 'The Many Pathways to Space' congress, which addresses topics such as the economy and space colonization in Oviedo, northern Spain, Campins recalled that "major impacts" like the one that extinguished the dinosaurs are "inevitable" if humanity does not develop the techniques, technologies, and action programs necessary to deflect asteroids that could collide with Earth.
The NASA expert clarified that there are currently no known asteroids "stalking" the planet and that the probability of one impacting within an individual's lifetime is "very low," but he insisted that humanity must prepare for it through so-called "planetary defense" if it wishes to endure as a civilization in the long term.
Defensa planetaria
"At least three or four decades ago," NASA "managed to convince the US government that a threat existed," and it has since coordinated a global network of telescopes and scientists tasked with discovering asteroids and determining if their trajectory is dangerous to the planet based on a probability model called the Torino scale, according to Campins.
Although human civilization has not yet been threatened by an asteroid impact, many space agencies currently collaborate internationally to conduct drills "every three years" in order to maintain an "institutional memory" that helps them react in case of real danger, he noted.
NASA now speaks of "planetary defense" when referring to programs like DART, which demonstrated in 2022 that it is possible to change the orbit of a small asteroid with a kinetic impact, "even if it sounds like science fiction," he pointed out.
El asteroide que "rozará" la Tierra
In April 2029, the asteroid Apophis, a 375-meter mass, will pass less than 32,000 kilometers from the Earth's surface, below the orbit of many communications satellites, which could allow it to be seen from Earth without the need for professional equipment.
Campins remarked that "in this encounter between Apophis and Earth, there is no risk of a collision," although in the future, the asteroid could modify its orbit and threaten an impact.
For this reason, he places great importance on the study of the asteroid to be carried out by NASA's Osiris-Apex space mission, in which he himself participates, and the Ramses spacecraft of the European Space Agency (ESA), which is still under construction.
The NASA and ESA vessels will have the opportunity to analyze, among other things, how Apophis deforms and changes when under the influence of Earth's gravity.
Asteroides y recursos
Asteroids approaching Earth acquire a speed similar to the planet's, which makes them "ideal for space mining," according to Campins.
The expert recalled that NASA's Osiris-Rex mission, the predecessor to the current Osiris-Apex and in which he also participated, found a surface of hydrated silicates, that is, clay, on the asteroid Bennu.
"Water can be extracted from there," which is "the most valuable material outside the Earth's atmosphere," he explained, because it can be separated into hydrogen and oxygen to "sell as fuel" to satellites orbiting the Earth.
In addition, the NASA expert added that materials such as platinum, rare earths, or raw materials that, without being precious, allow for "printing structures in space" to save on the transport of non-essential components from Earth, can be obtained from asteroids.
Although this use of asteroids is not yet a reality, Campins stated that "in one or two decades" it will begin to happen, as in his opinion it would be a "very practical" exploitation for the purpose of creating and maintaining data centers and bases in space.
[Publicidad]