-Caveat Lector- November 28 1999 BRITAIN Britain plans Armageddon centre as comet shield Jonathan Leake and Mark Macaskill NOW new Labour will save the world. Lord Sainsbury, the science minister, plans to build an Armageddon institute in Britain to track and destroy comets threatening the Earth. The centre, which would probably be sited in Northern Ireland, would be tasked with tracing the courses of hundreds of thousands of rogue rocks whose orbits cross the Earth's, and then working out the chance of a collision. It could thus draw up plans to save the world by destroying them or pushing them off course with nuclear weapons. Scientists have long realised that Earth is at risk from rocks from outer space. Such impacts have been credited with destroying the dinosaurs 65m years ago and with other mass extinctions. However, their warnings went unheeded until two recent Hollywood films, Armageddon and Deep Impact, showed Earth being ravaged by such impacts. The publicity prompted scientists at the British National Space Centre (BNSC) to investigate the risk, and their report is said to have startled Sainsbury into action. It warns that the chances of such an impact are far higher than that of a big nuclear incident and that it would have much more serious consequences. It points out that Britain has spent billions to reduce the theoretical risk of a serious nuclear accident to less than one every million years. By contrast, says the report, the Earth has been hit by meteorites several times this century and only a relatively small amount of money is needed to detect and destroy those that could pose a threat in future. The observatory would cost about £500,000 to set up and a similar amount in annual running costs, says the report. BNSC insiders say the most likely site would be at the Armagh Observatory, part of Queen's University, Belfast, which has considerable expertise in understanding the dynamics of the solar system. It is understood that Sainsbury would want France, Germany and Italy to help fund the project and supply expertise. Sainsbury said: "I take this very seriously and have asked experts to advise me on what contribution Britain can make. I believe an international approach would be best." Others say that the move is long overdue. "We are not alone in being concerned about this problem," said Professor Mark Bailey, director of Armagh Observatory. "America has already set up an observatory to detect Earth-threatening rocks and meteorites, and Japan is building two dedicated telescopes. We would work closely with both countries." Bailey will ask the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council for money to set up a robotic telescope on a mountain in the Canary Islands, to be controlled by astronomers in Armagh. It would systematically scan the skies for meteorites, feeding data back to Armagh for analysis. One job for the team would be to calculate exactly where on Earth a meteorite might strike. If efforts to deflect it failed, astronomers would be able to warn governments to evacuate regions at risk. Among the close encounters already experienced by the Earth this century were a huge explosion above Tunguska, in Siberia, caused by an 800-metre meteorite detonating in the atmosphere. It flattened hundreds of square miles of forest and would have devastated any towns if it had exploded over them. In the 1930s two large meteorites reached the ground in Latvia and the Amazon, causing big craters, and in 1947 a meteorite composed mainly of nickel and iron impacted in Siberia, creating a 200ft-deep hole. Duncan Steel, an expert in comets and meteorites, who heads the space technology group at Salford University, said the threat from space was real. He added: "Life has existed on Earth for 3.8 billion years, but the course of evolution has been altered time and again by asteroid impacts. At last a species has evolved which has the ability to save itself and ensure its future. That species is us." http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/99/11/28/stinwenws01031.html?999 DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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