It's getting closer to that apocolyptic date of 12/21/2012, and what have we done to prepare? Nothing! Well, unless your an MIT graduate student, who studies asteroids. He (among others) proposed that asteroids with a collision course with Earth, should be redirected -not with nukes or rockets- but with paintballs! Simulations who that if you were to fire two pellets (5 tonnes) of white paint at the asteroid, which would cover most of the surface of the rock.
This doesn't seem like it would do much, but it isnt the initial paint blast that is meant to move it. The photons (light) from the sun will have more of a surface to bounce off of, which would slowly but surely redirect the asteroid, in this case, Apophis.
What could be better than an astronomical game of paintball? How about an astronomical game of paintball IN SPACE!?
(99942 Apophis, a Near-Earth Object.
creative, I know.)
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