Dozens of space objects regularly approach Earth, carrying danger from space, but most of them do not pose a threat and burn up in the atmosphere at a safe distance, Leonid Elenin, a researcher at the M.V. Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics (IPM) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, astronomer, discoverer of comets and asteroids, and popularizer of science, told TASS.
Objects the size of tens of meters are already a more dangerous situation. Let me remind you that the Chelyabinsk body before entering the Earth's atmosphere was about 17 m in size. Not so much, but it made a lot of noise, both literally and figuratively.
What size meteorites can cause significant damage to Earth?
Space objects the size of a meter are not dangerous and burn up in the atmosphere almost without a trace. But larger specimens, such as the Chelyabinsk meteorite, which was only about 17 m in size, can have colossal consequences with their fall.
Thus, after the fall of a large Chelyabinsk meteorite in 2013, more than 1.5 thousand people in the region sought medical help, and the damage to the budget exceeded 1 billion rubles.
Therefore, the Chelyabinsk event showed us the acuteness of this problem: that even a small body is dangerous, and they need to be monitored, they need to be discovered.
According to the astronomer, at the state level, a program to search for such dangers exists only in the United States.
It has been operating since 1996 and is called "Spaceguard." These are special telescopes that detect dangerous objects every night. If in 1981 we knew about 60 such near-Earth objects, now we know about almost 40 thousand.
How can earthlings protect themselves from a cosmic threat?
More than half of small objects with a diameter of 10 - 30 m are discovered after the Earth has flown by, that is, post factum.
We discover half of them before the approach, but, unfortunately, the lead time remains insignificant - about a day. Therefore, there is no question of evacuating people from the danger zone. It is possible, at least, to inform the population about safety measures: do not approach windows, do not go outside for some time, avoid panic.
The discoverer of comets and asteroids said that the tools for searching for such objects - hunter telescopes - are constantly being improved and new ones are being built.
Just this fall, a new generation search telescope with a diameter of 8.4 m should start operating in Chile. It is expected that it will discover millions of new asteroids.
What about Russia?
The probability of a celestial body falling on our country is very high due to the large territorial extent. The astronomer believes that Russia is able to play a significant role in creating a space system for detecting threatening celestial bodies.
This is especially important for the detection of so-called daytime asteroids, which are observed mainly in the daytime sky. Such objects, unfortunately, are currently practically not observed.
To detect daytime asteroids, space telescopes are needed, which are launched into space at the maximum distance from the Earth so that they can view the space between the Earth and the Sun from the side.
Such projects exist in Russia. They are being worked out from the point of view of scientific and technical implementation. We are a space country, we were the first to launch a satellite and a man into space. Therefore, I think that Russia could solve one of the problems of planetary defense with the help of such space systems for detecting daytime asteroids.
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