| Title: | Should the USAF be involved in planetary defense |
| Authors: | Air Command and Staff Coll. Maxwell AFB AL (United States), Author ; Brent W. Borchers, Author |
| Material Type: | report |
| Publication Date: | 2009 |
| Format: | 1 online resource (37 p.) |
| Languages: | English |
| Class number: | QB651 |
| Subjects: | Asteroids--Collisions with Earth ; Comets--Collisions with Earth ; Comets--Collisions with Earth--Prevention ; Natural disasters ; Near-earth asteroids ; Near-Earth objects |
| Keywords: | Planetary defense |
| Description: | This paper analyzes what role, if any, should the United States Air Force take in the nation's stance on planetary defense. Planetary defense in this paper means protecting the planet and therefore our nation from the impact of large Near Earth Objects (NEOs). This topic is usually relegated to the realm of science fiction movies and books but the consequences of such an impact are too great to ignore and simply dismissing it as impossible. Before addressing the role of the United States Air Force in such project, the problem of a NEO impact is analyzed. First, the paper analyzes the problem itself and discusses the probability that a NEO large enough to cause damage will impact the earth. There is discussion of past NEO impacts during the earth's history and the craters that leave us tell tale signs of these impacts that we can gather data from. Secondly, the effects and consequences of a NEO impact are discussed. This shows the reader how even though the probability may be low, the consequences are so high that we mush take a possible NEO impact as a serious matter. The paper then discusses how to predict and prevent an impact |
| Format : | Open Access |
| Access: | http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA539693 |
| Permalink: | https://isulibrary.isunet.edu/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=9366 |
