10nfl1-Nukes-Cover
THERE ARE 200 ASTEROIDS READY TO HIT EARTH, AND THEY HAVE
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| THERE ARE 200 ASTEROIDS READY TO HIT EARTH, AND THEY HAVE ALREADY ENDED LIFE SIX TIMES. Lt. Col. John C. Kunich Harvard Law, Associate Professor @ Appalachian University of Law, Planetary Defense The Legality of Global Survival 41 AF. L. Rev. 119, 1997 Currently, astronomers estimate that at least 200 asteroids are in orbits that cross the Earth's orbit, and the number of such known asteroids is rapidly increasing as detection methods improve. Most of these asteroids are larger than 500 meters in diameter (several times larger than the Tunguska asteroid) and would cause massive damage if they were to collide with this planet. In addition, long-period comets, although less numerous than asteroids, pose a significant threat due to their greater velocities relative to Earth. The history of life on Earth includes several devastating periods of mass extinction during which the vast majority of species then in existence became extinct within a relatively short span of time. The best known of these mass extinctions found the dinosaurs tumbling all the way from their throne as the kings of all living things to the bone pile of archeological history. No less significant, however, were the extinction spasms that wiped out approximately 70 and 90 percent of marine species, respectively. Even the species that survived often experienced catastrophic reductions in their populations. Several scientific studies have linked mass extinctions to collisions between Earth and large objects from space. The hypothesis that these extinction spasms were caused by these collisions and their aftermaths is supported (1) by the discovery of the now well-documented large impact event at the[Cretaceous/Tertiary] boundary (2) by calculations relating to the catastrophic nature of the environmental effects in the aftermath of large impacts (3) by the discovery of several additional layers of impact debris or possible impact material at, or close to, geologic boundary/extinction events (4) by evidence that a number of extinctions were abrupt and perhaps catastrophic and (5) by the accumulation of data on impact craters and astronomical data on comets and asteroids that provide estimates of collision rates of such large bodies with the Earth on longtime scales. There are at least six mass extinctions that have been linked with large impacts on Earth from space. 10NFL1-Nuclear Weapons Page 181 of 199 www.victorybriefs.com Download 1.23 Mb. Share with your friends:
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