Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Russia wants to modify Cold War missiles to destroy asteroids
As covered in Vol.1411 on February 21st, asteroids pose
potential disaster to our planet.
But why does Russia worry so much? There seem to be several reasons.
Over 1,000 people were injured when a 20-meter-wide meteor exploded in
the sky over Chelyabinsk in 2013. Also, Russia exposes larger land surface than
any other country on the planet, leading to a higher chance to be hit by asteroids.
Another background is that they have nuclear warheads and intercontinental ballistic
missiles, or ICBM, that can be launched within a few minutes that have been
kept to defend the nation.
So no wonder why they came up with this idea to use its missiles to
destroy asteroids in space because the ICBM uses the similar technology to a space
rocket.
The problem is that if an ICBM can be converted to an earth-defense
rocket, the conversion of the other way around is possible, which could give an
excuse to some countries like North Korea to build a white-knight rocket.
Enjoy reading and thinking if this is a viable countermeasure to save
the planet.
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