How the Universe Works
Season 8
TV Series | How the Universe Works | Contents page
How the Universe Works S08E01
Part 1
Jan. 30, 2022, 2:57 p.m.
Narrator: A dangerous asteroid
is heading towards earth.
It's the size of
the empire state building,
and it's travelling at
16,000 miles an hour.
It's called apophis,
after the egyptian god of chaos.
It will fly close to us
in 2029.
It won't hit us...This time,
but when it returns
in 2068,
that could be another story.
If it blows up over a city,
millions of people will die.
This could be the most
devastating single event
in u.S. History.
arrator: Earth is stuck
in the crosshairs
of a potential asteroid strike.
Apophis is one of around 2,000
potentially hazardous asteroids
that present
a real and present danger.
Asteroids have hit us before,
and they will hit us again.
As far as cosmic dangerous go,
they're number one
on the list.
Narrator: This is not a drill.
If we do nothing...
This is our future.
♪
December 2018.
The u.S. Military detect
a huge explosion
in the earth's atmosphere
high over the bering sea
off the coast of alaska.
When an explosion of this
magnitude is detected,
everyone's mind
goes to the same thing -- nukes.
But when the real answer
was found and it was determined
that it didn't even
originate from earth,
that was even more shock.
Narrator:
The cause of the blast --
an asteroid.
This asteroid was
30 feet across --
something like that --
over a thousand tons,
but it was moving
at 20 miles per second,
over 70,000 miles an hour.
Narrator: This asteroid was
small, and it exploded
in the atmosphere
over the ocean,
so nobody was hurt.
But if it had been bigger
or it had come
in over a different place
or it had been moving
a lot faster,
this could have been
a dangerous object.
But the scariest thing
about it
is that
we didn't see it coming.
♪
narrator:
So far, we've been lucky.
But near misses happen
all the time.
About once a year,
we get something
the equivalent of a nuclear bomb
going off in our atmosphere.
And while that
sounds horrible,
most of these happen
tens of miles up...
Over open ocean, where we go
on completely oblivious.
Narrator:
We may be oblivious to most
of the threats from space,
but they are very real.
We're going to get hit.
Over a certain amount of time,
an asteroid impact
is inevitable.
It will happen 100%,
absolute certainty.
[ dog barking in distance ]
♪
[ rumbling, car alarm blaring ]
♪
narrator:
Nasa considers the threat
from the skies so severe
it has made protection
from asteroids a top priority.
These events are not rare.
They happen.
And of course it's up to us to
make sure that we are detecting
and characterizing, tracking
all of the near-earth objects
that potentially
could be a threat.
This is not about hollywood.
It's not about movies.
This is about ultimately
protecting the only planet
we know right now to host life,
and that is the planet earth.
To help plan
protecting our home,
we carry out
earth defense simulations.
For three days,
200 scientist at the planetary
defense conference
battle a simulated
asteroid 20 times larger
than the bering sea space rock.
We practice, "alright,
what if this hits a major city?
What would we need to do?"
narrator: By running
potential impact scenarios,
we can prepare
for a real asteroid strike.
This is like a fire drill
that you would do at school
or at work,
where you practice
and think about, okay,
what if?
Where are the exits?
How do I get out?
How fast do I get out?
Narrator: The drill starts
with the discovery
of a simulated
earthbound asteroid.
So, the first information
is there's a big asteroid
coming towards the earth.
Then we get a better estimate
of how big it is,
how fast it's going,
and where it's going to hit.
How the Universe Works
Season 8
TV Series | How the Universe Works | Contents page