CHALLENGE
Asteroid Protection
$1 MILLION (Prize amount to be confirmed. Announcement expected for next year)
Impact events or collision between astronomical objects can be considered a common event in a planetary system such as our own solar system and they can have physical consequences and have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or meteoroids and have minimal effect.
When large objects impact terrestrial planets such as the Earth, there can be significant physical and biospheric consequences, though atmospheres mitigate many surface impacts through atmospheric entry. Impact craters and structures are dominant landforms on many of the Solar System’s solid objects and present the strongest empirical evidence for their frequency and scale.
Major impact events have significantly shaped Earth’s history, and have been implicated in the formation of the Earth–Moon system, the evolutionary history of life, the origin of water on Earth and several mass extinctions. The prehistoric Chicxulub impact, 66 million years ago, is believed to be the cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that produced the end of the dinosaurs era.
Throughout recorded history, hundreds of Earth impacts (and exploding bolides) have been reported, with some occurrences causing deaths, injuries, property damage, or other significant localised consequences. One of the best-known recorded events in modern times was the Tunguska event, which occurred in Siberia, Russia, in 1908, while other minor events followed. Scientist rate 100% possibility of others impact events between asteroids and our planet.
Considering this circumstances several space agencies have considering the possibility to face such challenges with different approaches , from the asteroid deflection , in case of minor dimensions to the destruction with nuclear weapons of the asteroid causing its transformation in many smaller pieces with random trajectories.