Says a man who knowsAiredBy Aaron Rowe Email
July 27, 2008
Nuclear weapons could be used to stop earth-bound asteroids, but in most instances, they are not the best option, said Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart during a public lecture this Wednesday in San Francisco.
The venerable scientist explained that all but the largest heavenly bodies can be redirected by rear-ending or towing them with an unmanned spacecraft. But last year,
NASA issued a report stating that using nukes is the best strategy to prevent a catastrophic collision with earth.
Although Schweickart has a great deal of faith in the agency, enough to risk his life piloting their lunar lander, he feels that they issued the misleading statement -- under immense political pressure. It was a nefarious excuse to put nuclear weapons in space.
His own organization, the B612 Foundation, intends to use gentler tactics to alter the course of an asteroid by 2015.