Science Fact or Science Fiction? ‘Salvation’ and its Asteroid Theories Prove the Former
Oh, what the hell. We may as well run up those credit card bills. In the new CBS end-of-days saga Salvation, there’s a four-mile-wide asteroid heading directly toward Earth, and it’s a guaranteed planet killer. Worse yet, the U.S. Department of Defense is trying to keep it a secret. This big-budget summer series—starring Ian Anthony Dale (Hawaii Five-0), Charlie Rowe (Red Band Society), Santiago Cabrera (Heroes) and Jennifer Finnigan (Tyrant)—is the scariest kind of science fiction, because it’s actually science fact.
“Our planet has already experienced at least five mass extinction events, and there’s no reason to think it can’t happen again,” notes famed astronomer Phil Plait (Discovery’s Bad Universe), who serves as Salvation’s asteroid consultant. “Any sweaty, fevered dream you’ve ever had about the apocalypse doesn’t even come close to what might truly await us.” And sorry, Armageddon fans, nuking an approaching asteroid simply isn’t an option. “It would only create a whole lot of smaller asteroids—now radioactive—that would still be headed toward Earth,” Plait says. “Not to get too technical, but that would really suck.”
Could our government really keep such a thing hush-hush? “That’s where Salvation differs from reality for the sake of good storytelling,” Plait admits. “There are many scientists working outside of NASA—in the U.S. and around the world—who would be able to spot an asteroid coming our way. Take it from me, the problem is not getting us astronomers to talk. The problem is getting us to shut up.”
Salvation, Series Premiere, Wednesday, July 12, 9/8c, CBS
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I see from the show's web site that the warning time is supposed to be six months. For a threat that large only magic technobabble solutions would have any chance. This is estimated to be a something like one in six million years event, so (a) it might not kill everyone and (b) the chance it came upon us just as we were developing a technology capable of seeing it coming is next to zero, it might be an attack by aliens or space nazis or something. I'm surprised they made the warning time so short - it must limit what they can do in the story before the forced climax.
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The idea is not to destroy the asteroid but to detonate next to it, vapourise some rock to act like a rocket exhaust, and shove it aside. Rinse and repeat until the astronomers say it's going to miss. If it breaks up into several pieces that's not necessarily bad: the shrapnel will burn up in the atmosphere and each larger piece gets another nuke. If some of the radioactivity ends up on Earth then *shrug*, not a big deal compared with what we're trying to stop. The mission is difficult when warning time is short or the target is big but a hail of thermonuclear-tipped missiles remains the most practical solution. Build and launch as fast as you can, with all the economic strength you can put into it, and keep doing it until you've won or lost. Trying to stop it while keeping it secret would be a suicidal madness.
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