The Asteroid Threat

April 28, 2014
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 1, 2014

In his preface, Burrows (emeritus, journalism, New York Univ.) warns that Earth is at risk for a calamitous collision with a comet or asteroid. Scientists can develop methods to push potential impactors off course or smash them, he writes, but should also colonize other worlds so that (some) humans can survive a terrestrial catastrophe. The book proper begins with a gripping description of the destructive 2013 meteor explosion over Chelyabinsk, Russia. Unfortunately, in succeeding chapters the author buries his message under a heap of quotations badly in need of pruning--ranging from expert scientific commentary to political addresses to an Amazon user's review of an sf book--mixed with lengthy passages of minutiae (e.g., multiparagraph summaries of movies and television dramas about asteroid strikes; a list of paper titles presented at a 1995 conference; and scores of names of individuals marginally connected to the subject). The result is a disorganized reading experience. In particular, readers will search in vain for a "who's who" appendix that clearly indicates the role and relevant work of the many individuals named. (Index not seen.) VERDICT Once corrected (minor editing errors abound), this title, though dull, might serve as a history of planetary defense initiatives. Recreational readers should instead select Burrows's better-written The Survival Imperative: Using Space To Protect Earth (2007) or asteroid scientist Donald K. Yeomans's Near-Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us (2012).--Nancy R. Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono

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