What if we tell you that the Indian Space Research Organisation intends to develop space defense capabilities? Seems like another science fiction movie, right? It is not. In his latest remarks, Chairman of ISRO, S.
Somnath, intended to build a programme aimed at preventing celestial bodies from colliding with Earth. These celestial bodies, if collided with Earth, may have catastrophic consequences. For example, the asteroid that eliminated dinosaurs was 10 -15 km wide and collided with Earth, killing all the dinosaurs, making them extinct.
In the year 2013, a 20 -metre -wide asteroid entered the atmosphere and exploded about 30 km above a Russian town. This released energy equivalent to the blast yield of 400 -500 kT of TNT, which is equal to 26 -33 times the energy released by the atom bomb that detonated over Hiroshima. As per the Russian Ministry of Health, the shock waves of this explosion travelled to the ground, flattened trees, damaged buildings and injured more than a thousand people. In a recent discovery of another asteroid named Apophis, scientists thought there was a 2 .7% chance of a collision with Earth.
This asteroid was discovered in 2004. Several observations showed that if not in 2029, Apophis could hit the Earth in 2036 or 2068. NASA has already redirected one of its spacecraft to track Apophis. The spacecraft will go within a distance of 4000 km of Apophis in April 2029 and then trail the asteroid for 18 months, collecting the data and analyzing the surface. Scientists know of at least 1 .3 million asteroids but there could be more surprises in store.
A planetary defence program seeks to track and neutralize these threats. ISRO’s intention to join such an endeavor displays its growing confidence in taking on newer challenges and contributing proactively to global space objectives.
