Alas! Is it a guest or a threat? Delivered as a quest or a mess? Coming from south, or west? This one’s heading from outer space. Something passed within the lunar distance.
Surrounded by orbital objects, ain’t we all? Sun, moon, planets, comets, meteoroids, asteroids…. We’ll never be alone. We do always have company. Either moving around us, or hurtling toward us.
They call me an ‘Earth’. Unlike another planets, I have occupants: plants, animals, humans. Humans are the most adaptive species. Thankfully therefore I got government space agencies: NASA[1], ESA[2], CNSA[3], ISRO[4], JAXA[5], RFSA [6], along with many others. Not just monitoring, they’re also wandering and saving their own planet. Saving me.
Early 100 million years from today, a deadly asteroid collided with me. It was a huge nightmare. A devastating impact was inevitable. Dinosaur extinction, as you’ve all heard. The bigger the asteroid, the more destructive that could be. Falling, striking, crashing. What’s worse than it all?
Raise the alarm! Warn everyone! Even it’s 2030 in Gregorian Calendar and survey telescope could spotted near-Earth asteroid, I still feel worried. Will my occupants be safe?
Once asteroids discovered by a telescope, humans began to accumulate the data, including the category and also the damage, if they potentially hit me. The more they will pass very close to me, they will be the top priority. Sometimes, even they don’t make it to my surface can cause a damage. It happened in 2013 in Russia and 1.500 people were injured from the resulting shockwave.
I don’t want it happen again. There is a nuclear spacecraft named HAMMER[7], made on purpose to handle a dangerous asteroid. HAMMER’s target is Bennu, an asteroid that discovered in 1999, determined hitting me on September 2135. Don’t ask how dangerous is Bennu. It could cause a global catastrophe if Bennu smashed into me—just like what happened in Tunguska in 1908, even much bigger. Enough said.
Deflection. That’s the humans’ mission for Bennu. It’s not just about a rescue. Not just a sampling mission. It’s a versatile one. For only-one-big-hope. My hope. My occupants’ hope. Oh, how grateful I am to have them. I’m glad; I never be alone.
~
Decades passed, centuries slipped away. I am still not alone—still have my occupants. Despite humans never stop trying to find their ’new home’, I’m still glad that there is no extinction after September 2135.
About Bennu? Well, it’s 2136 in Gregorian Calendar; nearly a year after the HAMMER project mission is complete. Bennu’s path shifted by nuclear warhead. No collision. No threatening impact. All I can say, NASA really did their best. As a representative of all human beings, they do deserve my appreciation. My thanks. But … how can I say that to them?
You know what I admire about humans? Like I said, humans are the most adaptive species. Once they have the same mission, same enemy (Bennu, for example), they unite. They stick together. What occurs to me is … do they always need an enemy so they all could protect each other? Could they just keep their peace one another? I hope so. It’s 30th June in 2136. Happy Asteroid Day!
~~~
Explanation:
[1] NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration
[2] ESA = European Space Agency
[3] CNSA = China National Space Administration
[4] ISRO = Indian Space Research Organisation
[5] JAXA = Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
[6] RFSA = Russian Federal Space Agency
[7] HAMMER = Hyper-velocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response
Related Source:
> https://www.vox.com/a/asteroid-day
> https://newatlas.com/scientists-hammer-asteroids/53823/
> https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/video/how-does-nasa-spot-a-near-earth-asteroid/
> https://newatlas.com/whitehouse-neo-asteroid-preparedness/47269/
> https://asteroidday.org/about/
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_space_agencies
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