Rock Wars, we can win with silicon

<p>Douglas R McCarter</p>

Rock Wars, we can win with silicon

Douglas R McCarter

Mc Carter Inc. Tech., USA

: Res J Opt Photonics

Abstract

Present day technology does not provide detection and/ or deterrence of small to medium size asteroids. Large asteroids can be seen such as 2014 The Beast which came close the earth but interception and control is not possible. Just as important, Detecting this large asteroid three months before flyby was not enough time to Deter. Cities could be evacuated but the global economic damage of losing a city or country would be crippling. The Beast missed the Earth, and knowing that asteroids generally travel in orbit around the sun the Beast will be back. While we wait another Large Asteroid could show up. Not to mention then 20+ Nuclear Blasts incurred since 2000 from Small Asteroids that were never Detected until they hit the Earth. If a rock does not vaporize totally then that is another problem. Fortunately, the Russian Asteroid fell into a lake instead of through a crowded building. Even so over 1000 injuries and millions of dollars of damage occurred. This global bombardment of Rock Wars has only begun. As a ray of hope, throughout Earths approximate 4.5 billion year history it has almost been destroyed at least a half of dozen times, and every single time there has been survivors. (Scatter, Adapt, and Remember Annalee Newitz page 2) Earth has already been shattered by asteroid impacts, choked by extreme greenhouse gases, locked up in ice, bombarded with cosmic radiation, and ripped open by megavolcanoes so enormous they are almost unimaginable. Each of these disasters caused mass extinctions, during which more than 75% of the species on Earth died out. Incredibly every single time, living creatures carried on, adapting to survive under the harshest of conditions. (Page 3). There is no need to continue traveling through life blind and defenseless to Asteroids. There is no need to rebuild if we Detect and Deter the Asteroids. Humanity is at a Crossroads with a tough decision to move forward with aggressive plan of action. Even though Life would likely survive after another close extinction, we are in a Today where we have advanced our knowledge of silicon optical technology to a point to where we can be proactive vs. reactive. We can study the IR signatures of the Asteroids such as with the GLAST Silicon Detector, add an new Array of Silicon Space Telescopes on different orbits and Space Drones with Silicon Solar Powered High Energy Lasers with a tested and proven material, Single Crystal Silicon optics. (SPIE)