UN Mounts Asteroid Defense Plan Following Chelyabinsk Meteor

Philip Ross writes "Astronomers have warned that our planet is long overdue for a defense plan against catastrophic asteroid collisions. When it comes to deflecting Earth-obliterating celestial bodies, short of a superhero capable of punching the approaching rock back into outer space, there is no single force dedicated to stopping cosmic bullies from striking our little blue planet straight in the eye. That's why the United Nations said it will establish an International Asteroid Warning Group to intercept and divert dangerous asteroids."

Comments

Re:It begins

[nbauman]

Thank you for your uninformed, knee-jerk anti-UN comment.

They did eradicate smallpox, you know.

Re:Weeell .... Priorities?

[confused one]

we have preliminary numbers. Russia has been hit by potential city shattering meteorites twice in a hundred years. If the Tunguska event happened over a populated area it would no longer have been populated. If Chelyabinsk had entered at a slightly steeper angle, it would have been significantly worse. As it is, it entered at a shallow enough angle that it broke up high in the atmosphere and reducing the effect of the shock wave. We have a reasonable handle on the larger nation killing, and extinction causing, world ending variety. What we don't have is sufficient tracking data on the smaller city killers.

And the WHO is....

[Ellis D. Tripp]

...an agency of the UNITED NATIONS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization