The Asteroid Threat: Defending Our Planet from Deadly Near-Earth Objects

Aerospace writer Burrows examines ways to defend Earth from “Terracide” by NEOs—near-Earth objects like asteroids or comets—in this choppy but informative book. Burrows begins with the dramatic events of Feb. 15, 2013, when a 7,000-ton meteorite streaked over Chelyabinsk, Russia, shattering windows and creating a 32-second-long shock wave that registered on seismic sensors from Greenland to Antarctica. While the Chelyabinsk meteorite wasn’t a “civilization ender,” it’s only a matter of time and luck before Earth meets another deadly strike like the one that caused the Cretaceous extinction. Burrows reviews the scenarios—both defensive and apocalyptic—invented by video games, Hollywood, and science fiction writers, especially author Arthur C. Clarke’s fictional Spaceguard project. Organizations from the Cold War–era U.S. Space Surveillance Network to the National Research Council’s Near-Earth Object Survey and Detection Panel have worked to identify space-borne threats and defend our planet. While the chapters feel more like individual articles than part of a larger work, Burrows’s argument for more attention, funding, and especially international cooperation is honest, urgent, and compelling. (June)