Death by Asteroid: The Most Likely Ways for a Space Rock to Kill You

Death by Asteroid: The Most Likely Ways for a Space Rock to Kill You
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | April 20, 2017

Artist's illustration depicting a massive asteroid impact on Earth.
Credit: NASA/Don Davis

If you live in fear of an asteroid strike, here's some detail to help flesh
out your nightmares.

A killer space rock is most likely to get you via violent winds that fling
you against something hard or powerful shock waves that rupture your
internal organs, according to a new study.

"This is the first study that looks at all seven impact effects generated by
hazardous asteroids and estimates which are, in terms of human loss, most
severe," lead author Clemens Rumpf, a senior research assistant at the
University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, said in a statement.
[Potentially Dangerous Asteroids (Images)]

Rumpf and his colleagues simulated 50,000 asteroid strikes around the globe
using computer models. These artificial impacts involved space rocks 50 feet
to 1,300 feet wide (15 to 400 meters) - the size range that hits Earth most
frequently, the scientists said.

Then, the team estimated the percentage of deaths caused by each of the
seven effects Rumpf referred to: shock waves, wind blasts, heat, flying
debris, cratering, seismic shaking and tsunamis.

Wind and shock waves were the most deadly, together accounting for more than
60 percent of all lives lost. (Though these two effects act in concert, wind
blasts were far more devastating than shock waves, the study found.) The
sizzling heat of an impact was responsible for nearly 30 percent of deaths,
and tsunamis took most of the rest.

Each of the other three effects claimed only a tiny sliver of the death
toll, according to the study. Flying debris had a maximum contribution of
just 0.91 percent, for example; the figures for cratering and seismic
shaking were 0.2 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively.

Rumpf and his colleagues also determined that land-based asteroid impacts
are about 10 times deadlier than ocean strikes. In addition, they found that
space rocks have to be at least 59 feet (18 m) wide to be lethal.

That lower limit is about the size of the object that exploded above the
Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, generating a shock wave that
broke countless windows on the ground below. The resulting flying glass
shards injured more than 1,000 people but killed nobody.

"This report is a reasonable step forward in trying to understand and come
to grips with the hazards posed by asteroids and comet impactors," Jay
Melosh, a geophysicist at Purdue University who was not involved in the new
study, said in the same statement.

Melosh added that the findings "lead one to appreciate the role of air
blasts in asteroid impacts, as we saw in Chelyabinsk."

Astronomers have discovered more than 16,000 near-Earth objects to date.
However, that number is just a tiny sliver of the total, which is thought to
be in the millions.

Scientists think they've found about 95 percent of the nearby asteroids that
could threaten human civilization if they were to hit Earth - behemoths at
least 0.6 miles (1 km) wide - and none of these monsters poses a threat for
the foreseeable future.

But there are still plenty of dangerous rocks zooming around out there
undiscovered. On average, Earth gets hit by an asteroid at least 190 feet
(60 m) wide every 1,500 years and by a rock at least 1,300 feet (400 m) wide
every 100,000 years, Rumpf said.

"The likelihood of [a serious] asteroid impact is really low," said Rumpf.
"But the consequences can be unimaginable."

Researchers around the world are studying ways to prevent asteroid strikes
and thereby avoid those consequences. Most incoming space rocks that are
detected with decades of lead time could likely be nudged away from Earth
using "gravity tractors" and kinetic impactor probes, scientists say.
(Gravity tractors would fly alongside a potentially dangerous asteroid for
long stretches, whereas kinetic impactors would slam into the space rock.)

But a nuclear bomb may be required to deal with giant asteroids or comets
that are discovered just weeks or months before a potential impact.

The new study was published last month in the journal Geophysical Research
Letters.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us
@Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

http://www.space.com/36532-killer-as...th-causes.html

yup, just let them space nuts keep sending up all that trash, and
placing it in orbit, to pull on the planet with, and it will eventually
run into the asteroid belt, the earth. You can be dam sure and count on
that one. Only takes a rocket scientist to forget it. Thanks Don
Davis, Mr dumb ass. Yup, He be the one to make it happen alright.
But then again, God said He would send fire from heaven for your sins,
and you know what dumb ass Dave, you certainly deserve it.

On 4/22/2017 7:46 PM, a425couple wrote:
Death by Asteroid: The Most Likely Ways for a Space Rock to Kill You
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | April 20, 2017

Artist's illustration depicting a massive asteroid impact on Earth.
Credit: NASA/Don Davis

If you live in fear of an asteroid strike, here's some detail to help
flesh out your nightmares.

A killer space rock is most likely to get you via violent winds that
fling you against something hard or powerful shock waves that rupture
your internal organs, according to a new study.

"This is the first study that looks at all seven impact effects
generated by hazardous asteroids and estimates which are, in terms of
human loss, most severe," lead author Clemens Rumpf, a senior research
assistant at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, said
in a statement. [Potentially Dangerous Asteroids (Images)]

Rumpf and his colleagues simulated 50,000 asteroid strikes around the
globe using computer models. These artificial impacts involved space
rocks 50 feet to 1,300 feet wide (15 to 400 meters) - the size range
that hits Earth most frequently, the scientists said.

Then, the team estimated the percentage of deaths caused by each of the
seven effects Rumpf referred to: shock waves, wind blasts, heat, flying
debris, cratering, seismic shaking and tsunamis.

Wind and shock waves were the most deadly, together accounting for more
than 60 percent of all lives lost. (Though these two effects act in
concert, wind blasts were far more devastating than shock waves, the
study found.) The sizzling heat of an impact was responsible for nearly
30 percent of deaths, and tsunamis took most of the rest.

Each of the other three effects claimed only a tiny sliver of the death
toll, according to the study. Flying debris had a maximum contribution
of just 0.91 percent, for example; the figures for cratering and seismic
shaking were 0.2 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively.

Rumpf and his colleagues also determined that land-based asteroid
impacts are about 10 times deadlier than ocean strikes. In addition,
they found that space rocks have to be at least 59 feet (18 m) wide to
be lethal.

That lower limit is about the size of the object that exploded above the
Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, generating a shock wave
that broke countless windows on the ground below. The resulting flying
glass shards injured more than 1,000 people but killed nobody.

"This report is a reasonable step forward in trying to understand and
come to grips with the hazards posed by asteroids and comet impactors,"
Jay Melosh, a geophysicist at Purdue University who was not involved in
the new study, said in the same statement.

Melosh added that the findings "lead one to appreciate the role of air
blasts in asteroid impacts, as we saw in Chelyabinsk."

Astronomers have discovered more than 16,000 near-Earth objects to date.
However, that number is just a tiny sliver of the total, which is
thought to be in the millions.

Scientists think they've found about 95 percent of the nearby asteroids
that could threaten human civilization if they were to hit Earth -
behemoths at least 0.6 miles (1 km) wide - and none of these monsters
poses a threat for the foreseeable future.

But there are still plenty of dangerous rocks zooming around out there
undiscovered. On average, Earth gets hit by an asteroid at least 190
feet (60 m) wide every 1,500 years and by a rock at least 1,300 feet
(400 m) wide every 100,000 years, Rumpf said.

"The likelihood of [a serious] asteroid impact is really low," said
Rumpf. "But the consequences can be unimaginable."

Researchers around the world are studying ways to prevent asteroid
strikes and thereby avoid those consequences. Most incoming space rocks
that are detected with decades of lead time could likely be nudged away
from Earth using "gravity tractors" and kinetic impactor probes,
scientists say. (Gravity tractors would fly alongside a potentially
dangerous asteroid for long stretches, whereas kinetic impactors would
slam into the space rock.)

But a nuclear bomb may be required to deal with giant asteroids or
comets that are discovered just weeks or months before a potential impact.

The new study was published last month in the journal Geophysical
Research Letters.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us
@Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

http://www.space.com/36532-killer-as...th-causes.html

yup, just let them space nuts keep sending up all that trash, and
placing it in orbit, to pull on the planet with, and it will eventually
run into the asteroid belt, the earth. You can be dam sure and count on
that one. Only takes a rocket scientist to forget this on purpose.
Thanks Don Davis, Mr dumb ass. Yup, He be the one to make it happen
alright.

But then again, God said He would send fire from heaven for your sins,
and you know what dumb ass Dave, you certainly do dam deserve it.

AND as far as Chelyabinsk in February 2013, that was no shockwave,
that was a laser energy weapon fired from the Russian Gov to break up
the rock itself and it did, and when it did, it broke everything on the
ground as well. Including people. But do you think for one moment dumb
ass daves will tell you about such, like a GW BUSH 911 liar, no they
will not... And we all do know why.

On 4/22/2017 7:46 PM, a425couple wrote:
Death by Asteroid: The Most Likely Ways for a Space Rock to Kill You
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | April 20, 2017

Artist's illustration depicting a massive asteroid impact on Earth.
Credit: NASA/Don Davis

If you live in fear of an asteroid strike, here's some detail to help
flesh out your nightmares.

A killer space rock is most likely to get you via violent winds that
fling you against something hard or powerful shock waves that rupture
your internal organs, according to a new study.

"This is the first study that looks at all seven impact effects
generated by hazardous asteroids and estimates which are, in terms of
human loss, most severe," lead author Clemens Rumpf, a senior research
assistant at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, said
in a statement. [Potentially Dangerous Asteroids (Images)]

Rumpf and his colleagues simulated 50,000 asteroid strikes around the
globe using computer models. These artificial impacts involved space
rocks 50 feet to 1,300 feet wide (15 to 400 meters) - the size range
that hits Earth most frequently, the scientists said.

Then, the team estimated the percentage of deaths caused by each of the
seven effects Rumpf referred to: shock waves, wind blasts, heat, flying
debris, cratering, seismic shaking and tsunamis.

Wind and shock waves were the most deadly, together accounting for more
than 60 percent of all lives lost. (Though these two effects act in
concert, wind blasts were far more devastating than shock waves, the
study found.) The sizzling heat of an impact was responsible for nearly
30 percent of deaths, and tsunamis took most of the rest.

Each of the other three effects claimed only a tiny sliver of the death
toll, according to the study. Flying debris had a maximum contribution
of just 0.91 percent, for example; the figures for cratering and seismic
shaking were 0.2 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively.

Rumpf and his colleagues also determined that land-based asteroid
impacts are about 10 times deadlier than ocean strikes. In addition,
they found that space rocks have to be at least 59 feet (18 m) wide to
be lethal.

That lower limit is about the size of the object that exploded above the
Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, generating a shock wave
that broke countless windows on the ground below. The resulting flying
glass shards injured more than 1,000 people but killed nobody.

"This report is a reasonable step forward in trying to understand and
come to grips with the hazards posed by asteroids and comet impactors,"
Jay Melosh, a geophysicist at Purdue University who was not involved in
the new study, said in the same statement.

Melosh added that the findings "lead one to appreciate the role of air
blasts in asteroid impacts, as we saw in Chelyabinsk."

Astronomers have discovered more than 16,000 near-Earth objects to date.
However, that number is just a tiny sliver of the total, which is
thought to be in the millions.

Scientists think they've found about 95 percent of the nearby asteroids
that could threaten human civilization if they were to hit Earth -
behemoths at least 0.6 miles (1 km) wide - and none of these monsters
poses a threat for the foreseeable future.

But there are still plenty of dangerous rocks zooming around out there
undiscovered. On average, Earth gets hit by an asteroid at least 190
feet (60 m) wide every 1,500 years and by a rock at least 1,300 feet
(400 m) wide every 100,000 years, Rumpf said.

"The likelihood of [a serious] asteroid impact is really low," said
Rumpf. "But the consequences can be unimaginable."

Researchers around the world are studying ways to prevent asteroid
strikes and thereby avoid those consequences. Most incoming space rocks
that are detected with decades of lead time could likely be nudged away
from Earth using "gravity tractors" and kinetic impactor probes,
scientists say. (Gravity tractors would fly alongside a potentially
dangerous asteroid for long stretches, whereas kinetic impactors would
slam into the space rock.)

But a nuclear bomb may be required to deal with giant asteroids or
comets that are discovered just weeks or months before a potential impact.

The new study was published last month in the journal Geophysical
Research Letters.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us
@Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

http://www.space.com/36532-killer-as...th-causes.html

yup, just let them space nuts keep sending up all that trash, and
placing it in orbit, to pull on the planet with, and it will eventually
run into the asteroid belt, the earth. You can be dam sure and count on
that one. Only takes a rocket scientist to forget this on purpose.
Thanks Don Davis, Mr dumb ass. Yup, He be the one to make it happen
alright.

But then again, God said He would send fire from heaven for your sins,
and you know what dumb ass Dave, you certainly do dam deserve it.

AND as far as Chelyabinsk in February 2013, that was no shockwave,
that was a laser energy weapon fired from the Russian Gov to break up
the rock itself and it did, and when it did, it broke everything on the
ground as well. Including people. But do you think for one moment dumb
ass daves will tell you about such, like a GW BUSH 911 liar, no they
will not... And we all do know why.


On 4/22/2017 7:46 PM, a425couple wrote:
Death by Asteroid: The Most Likely Ways for a Space Rock to Kill You
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | April 20, 2017

Artist's illustration depicting a massive asteroid impact on Earth.
Credit: NASA/Don Davis

If you live in fear of an asteroid strike, here's some detail to help
flesh out your nightmares.

A killer space rock is most likely to get you via violent winds that
fling you against something hard or powerful shock waves that rupture
your internal organs, according to a new study.

"This is the first study that looks at all seven impact effects
generated by hazardous asteroids and estimates which are, in terms of
human loss, most severe," lead author Clemens Rumpf, a senior research
assistant at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, said
in a statement. [Potentially Dangerous Asteroids (Images)]

Rumpf and his colleagues simulated 50,000 asteroid strikes around the
globe using computer models. These artificial impacts involved space
rocks 50 feet to 1,300 feet wide (15 to 400 meters) - the size range
that hits Earth most frequently, the scientists said.

Then, the team estimated the percentage of deaths caused by each of the
seven effects Rumpf referred to: shock waves, wind blasts, heat, flying
debris, cratering, seismic shaking and tsunamis.

Wind and shock waves were the most deadly, together accounting for more
than 60 percent of all lives lost. (Though these two effects act in
concert, wind blasts were far more devastating than shock waves, the
study found.) The sizzling heat of an impact was responsible for nearly
30 percent of deaths, and tsunamis took most of the rest.

Each of the other three effects claimed only a tiny sliver of the death
toll, according to the study. Flying debris had a maximum contribution
of just 0.91 percent, for example; the figures for cratering and seismic
shaking were 0.2 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively.

Rumpf and his colleagues also determined that land-based asteroid
impacts are about 10 times deadlier than ocean strikes. In addition,
they found that space rocks have to be at least 59 feet (18 m) wide to
be lethal.

That lower limit is about the size of the object that exploded above the
Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, generating a shock wave
that broke countless windows on the ground below. The resulting flying
glass shards injured more than 1,000 people but killed nobody.

"This report is a reasonable step forward in trying to understand and
come to grips with the hazards posed by asteroids and comet impactors,"
Jay Melosh, a geophysicist at Purdue University who was not involved in
the new study, said in the same statement.

Melosh added that the findings "lead one to appreciate the role of air
blasts in asteroid impacts, as we saw in Chelyabinsk."

Astronomers have discovered more than 16,000 near-Earth objects to date.
However, that number is just a tiny sliver of the total, which is
thought to be in the millions.

Scientists think they've found about 95 percent of the nearby asteroids
that could threaten human civilization if they were to hit Earth -
behemoths at least 0.6 miles (1 km) wide - and none of these monsters
poses a threat for the foreseeable future.

But there are still plenty of dangerous rocks zooming around out there
undiscovered. On average, Earth gets hit by an asteroid at least 190
feet (60 m) wide every 1,500 years and by a rock at least 1,300 feet
(400 m) wide every 100,000 years, Rumpf said.

"The likelihood of [a serious] asteroid impact is really low," said
Rumpf. "But the consequences can be unimaginable."

Researchers around the world are studying ways to prevent asteroid
strikes and thereby avoid those consequences. Most incoming space rocks
that are detected with decades of lead time could likely be nudged away
from Earth using "gravity tractors" and kinetic impactor probes,
scientists say. (Gravity tractors would fly alongside a potentially
dangerous asteroid for long stretches, whereas kinetic impactors would
slam into the space rock.)

But a nuclear bomb may be required to deal with giant asteroids or
comets that are discovered just weeks or months before a potential impact.

The new study was published last month in the journal Geophysical
Research Letters.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us
@Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

http://www.space.com/36532-killer-as...th-causes.html