Supernova explosion. If a supernova explodes just ten light years from Earth, the flow of cosmic rays will increase hundreds of times. The entire ozone shield will simply be swept away. If a supernova explodes just ten light years from Earth, then the flow of cosmic rays will increase hundreds of times. The entire ozone shield will simply be swept away
Supernova Karina As shown by photographs taken by the space telescope. Hubble, this huge core is still seething. This will be followed by a new explosion. There is no more than ten thousand years left to wait. It is then that this Karina will finally die, but her decline may turn into severe trials for us as well. After all, we are separated from her by only some 7,500 light years. As shown by photographs taken by the space telescope. Hubble, this huge core is still seething. This will be followed by a new explosion. There is no more than ten thousand years left to wait. It is then that this Karina will finally die, but her decline may turn into severe trials for us as well. After all, we are separated from her by only some 7,500 light years.
Influence of the Sun. The sun significantly influences not only biological, but also social processes on Earth. Social conflicts(wars, riots, revolutions), according to A.L. Chizhevsky, are largely determined by the behavior and activity of our luminary.
Earth and space The presence of multilateral cosmic connections has been widely confirmed in works on the influence of the geomagnetic field and solar activity on blood pressure biorhythms, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, the behavior of erythrocytes, blood coagulation, hemoglobin content, homeostasis of living organisms, soil formation, baric pressure and atmospheric circulation, precipitation, the genesis of the Earth's relief, according to the forecast of unfavorable periods in the geo- and biosphere, weather, epidemics, etc. The presence of multilateral cosmos-terrestrial connections has been widely confirmed in works on the influence of the geomagnetic field and solar activity on blood pressure biorhythms, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, the behavior of erythrocytes, blood coagulation, hemoglobin content, homeostasis of living organisms, soil formation, baric pressure and atmospheric circulation, precipitation, the genesis of the Earth's topography, according to the forecast of unfavorable periods in the geo- and biosphere, weather, epidemics, etc.
On August 4, 2012, an international conference of ufologists “Cosmic threats - myth or reality?” was held in Samara, organized by the Path to the Sun research center, created on the initiative of public figure, candidate of psychological sciences Svetlana Peunova, writer, author of the documentary project "Through the Apocalypse".
The conference was attended by leading Russian and foreign ufologists working on the problems of extraterrestrial civilizations and contacts with UFOs, as well as researchers and eyewitnesses of anomalous phenomena and zones. The purpose of the conference was to attract the attention of the general public to the problems of extraterrestrial life.
The fact that we are not alone in the Universe is almost universally accepted. This problem is far from new. Back in the Middle Ages, the great Italian thinker Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake of the Inquisition, was a passionate preacher of the idea of a plurality of inhabited worlds. Subsequently, the idea of the widespread occurrence of life and intelligence in the Universe received universal recognition and development. Philosophers, writers, and poets have written about the plurality of inhabited worlds. The scientists I. Newton, M. V. Lomonosov, P. S. Laplace and many others were staunch supporters of this idea. At the beginning of the last century, the great Russian philosopher-scientist K.E. Tsiolkovsky wrote about the widespread prevalence of intelligent life in the Universe: “Theoretically, we are confident in the infinity of the Universe and the number of its planets. Is there really no life on any of them! This would no longer be a miracle , but a monster! So, the populated Universe is an absolute truth"[Tsiolkovsky K.E. Cause of Space. Kaluga, 1925].
For many years now, researchers from different countries have been raising the question of the intervention of an alien civilization in the history of the evolution of the Earth since ancient times. There is an opinion that aliens regularly visit our planet, and maybe even live among us. Today we have a lot of evidence of the existence of aliens. Information leaks to the media about the contacts of the inhabitants of the Earth with them.
The fact that the meeting of our civilizations is quite possible in the near future has been confirmed at the highest international level. In 2010, the UN proposed introducing a special position - a space ambassador. This person was an astrophysicist from Malaysia, Mazlan Othman. Mazlan Othman issued a statement, noting that it is very important to develop a detailed protocol in case of contact with aliens.
In December 2011, the Vatican announced its readiness to welcome aliens with warmth and baptize aliens of their own free will. Thus, the Catholic Church does not reject the theory of the existence of alien life forms and would be happy to meet with unearthly civilizations.
Most main question which arises: are the alien civilizations that may be encountered friendly or hostile? Do they pose a threat to humanity? We, the inhabitants of planet Earth, have the right to know the truth, which the international elite carefully hides from us. Key facts, concerning the safety of our planet, as well as possible threats from Space, are either hushed up or subjected to skepticism and ridicule of those brave souls who speak openly on this topic.
Although, according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, officials are obliged to inform the population about threats to life and health. Concealment by officials of such facts and circumstances should be punished up to imprisonment. The Earth is our common home and we can only resist cosmic threats together.
Following the conference, the participants adopted a resolution in which they proposed:
- To unite the knowledge of people of good will in the field of space exploration and the influence of alien civilizations on earthly life, as opposed to the secret knowledge used by a handful of the world elite.
- We will use all means at our disposal to notify the general Russian and international public about the past Round Table and its decisions.
- Create a working group to organize a Scientific Committee to study contacts with representatives of other space civilizations.
- The work plan of this committee includes the development of ways to protect Earthlings from possible aggressive influences of alien minds.
- Call upon competent organizations to stop keeping silent about this topic and bring to the attention of the world community all new evidence of the presence of extraterrestrial civilizations on Earth and in space.
- Create an Internet resource for the exchange of information and opinions.
The presentation on the topic Threat from outer space can be downloaded absolutely free on our website. Project subject: Astronomy. Colorful slides and illustrations will help you engage your classmates or audience. To view the content, use the player, or if you want to download the report, click on the corresponding text under the player. The presentation contains 15 slide(s).
Presentation slides
Slide 1
Space threat
The work was completed by an 8th grade student from the Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School of the village. Tataurova Maninets Anatoly Head: Filimonov L.N. April 2008
Slide 2
Is it possible to escape from space aliens?
Astronomers around the world are eagerly awaiting the onset of May 14 - it is on this day, according to European scientists, that one of the comets should sweep through outer space relatively close to the Earth.
Slide 3
Threat to life from space
Life on Earth is still very young compared to the age of the planet - only 600 million years ago the oxygen content in the atmosphere reached 1% and the first multicellular organisms began to appear, and on land the most primitive organisms appeared about 400 million years ago. (According to some sensational data, a noticeable oxygen content was still 2.7 billion years ago, but this remains to be verified. It is known that over the past eras, life on Earth has been subjected to monstrous attacks: catastrophes have occurred repeatedly, when mass extinction of a variety of organisms occurred. It is possible and it is even very likely that the source of the threat to life on Earth is in space.Understanding the nature of this threat is one of the most important practical tasks of astronomy and astrophysics.
Slide 4
History of the Earth Invasions
The number of potentially dangerous objects known today is very large - more than three thousand, and every month 30-40 newcomers are added to them. The orbits of most of them have been calculated, but the accuracy of these calculations is unknown. But the lives of many people depend on how accurately we can assess the danger emanating from this or that cosmic body.
What happens when a meteorite hits the Earth? Usually meteorites are so small that absolutely nothing happens - those tiny pits formed by the impact are quickly eroded. However, 49 thousand years ago, a truly gigantic meteorite collided with the Earth, so that an impact crater was formed in Arizona, in Diablo Canyon. The diameter of the crater is more than a kilometer! In 1920, Arizona Crater was accepted as the first impact crater on Earth. To date, more than a hundred impact craters have been found on Earth.
Slide 5
Many impact craters have been identified using space imagery. The three largest have a diameter of 150 km: Sedburn in Canada, Fredefort in Africa, Akramana in Australia. A crater with a diameter of 100 km and a thickness of destroyed rocks of 4 km was discovered in Yakutia. 65 million years ago, a meteorite with a diameter of 10 km fell to Earth. Clouds of dust obscured the sun and a cold snap set in, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
The Chicxulub crater is located on the Yucatan Peninsula and is a trace of the enormous meteorite impact that marked the end of the Mesozoic era.
A giant meteorite fell 65 million years ago in a geologically unique area, very rich in sulfur. Scientists estimate the size of the body at 10-20 km. Its fall created a crater up to 15 km deep. The catastrophic explosion lifted into the atmosphere from 35 to 770 billion (!) tons of sulfur, as well as other materials. For about six months, clouds of dust, soot and sulfur thrown up by the explosion plunged the world into darkness. Plant development and photosynthesis processes stopped. But even after the darkness cleared, the sky remained cloudy due to clouds of sulfuric acid formed high in the stratosphere.
The dinosaurs, it turns out, were just very unlucky. If the celestial body that left the 300-kilometer Chicxulub crater on the edge of the Yucatan Peninsula had fallen into almost any other place on Earth, they could still be walking around it. . The released energy exceeded 10 thousand times the explosive energy of all nuclear weapons currently available on Earth.
Slide 6
Tunguska meteorite - a great mystery
The morning of June 30 (17th old style) 1908 did not seem to foretell anything unusual. And suddenly a luminous object with a long fiery tail appeared in the sky over Siberia, and at 7:17 a.m. local time, an explosion, or perhaps a series of explosions, was heard in the Podkamennaya Tunguska River basin, the total power of which was two thousand times greater than the atomic strike on Hiroshima.
When the Tunguska meteorite fell, with a diameter of only 50 m and exploded at an altitude of 7 km, the taiga was destroyed over an area of about 2 thousand square meters. km, many animals died, literally the entire continent of Eurasia shook, and the shock wave circled the globe twice. If this had happened 6 hours later, then St. Petersburg with its surroundings 100 km away would have been destroyed.
Slide 7
The Tunguska meteorite showed us the full extent of the danger. Space aliens continue to fall to Earth. Small for now. But monitoring of outer space by telescopic and radar methods confirms the presence in the solar system large number space objects threatening the Earth.
Space aliens
In the mid-1960s, the issue of a possible collision between the Earth and the asteroid Icarus was vigorously discussed in the media. Icarus comes close to Earth every 19 years. The diameter of the asteroid is about 1.5 kilometers. His blow about earth's surface would be comparable to the explosion of a nuclear charge of 500 thousand megatons. In this case, the catastrophe would have been planetary in nature, killing millions of people and making thousands of square kilometers around the crash site a zone of complete destruction. There could also be a “nuclear winter” that would last for years.
Slide 8
Here is an example of a cosmic catastrophe, although not related to the Earth. On the night of July 16-17, 1994, the first kilometer-long part of the comet-train Shoemaker-Levy 9 fell on the giant planet Jupiter at a speed of 65 km/s. The diameter of the cavity-spot formed from the impact exceeded 10 thousand km, which is slightly less than the diameter of the Earth. In total, 20 fragments of the comet train collided with the southern hemisphere of Jupiter over the course of a week. One can imagine what was happening on a dead, in the sense of having no intelligent life, Jupiter. Thus, the height of the sultan-like structure of Jupiter’s atmospheric gases exceeded three thousand kilometers above the upper layer of clouds.
It is clear that due to the enormous mass of Jupiter, which is 318 times greater than the mass of the Earth, this collision could not have had an impact on Jupiter. global consequences, such as, for example, its splitting into separate parts or a noticeable change in orbit. According to calculations, when the largest of the secondary comet nuclei (about 3 km) of the “comet train” collided with the giant planet, colossal energy was released, which is equivalent to the energy of the explosion of 10 billion megatons of trinitrotoluene, or the energy of hundreds of millions of Tunga meteorites.
Slide 9
A 250-meter asteroid flew near the Earth 01/29/2008 16:28
An asteroid with a diameter of about 250 meters rushed near the Earth on January 29. The asteroid, which was given a rather boring name - 2007 TU24, passed at a distance of 538 thousand kilometers from the orbit of the Moon. Collisions with the Earth are possible Scientists who observe objects flying near the Earth say that such blocks pass at such a short distance once every few years. A little over a year and a half ago, a more impressive asteroid measuring 600 meters in size was almost as close to Earth as the Moon. According to NASA experts, collisions with the Earth are theoretically still possible. They can occur with a frequency of once every 37 thousand years. It is assumed that understanding the nature of asteroids will help humanity develop a system of protection against such dangers from outer space.
Slide 10
The demon of evil is flying towards us. Less than a quarter of a century remains until the end of the world.
On April 13, 2029, the asteroid “Apophis-99942” with a diameter of 390 meters will approach the Earth at a dangerous distance of 30–40 thousand kilometers. In Egyptian mythology, Apophis is the spirit of evil and destruction, a demon seeking to plunge the world into eternal darkness. “Apophis-99942” will approach the Earth twice: on April 13, 2029 and, according to various estimates, in 2035 or 2036. Then the distance may be reduced by another 10–15 thousand kilometers. This is the most serious space threat to the planet in the last 200 years. When the Earth meets Apophis, 100 thousand times more energy will be released than during the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima. According to scientists, if an asteroid falls a thousand kilometers from the East Coast of the United States, a wave 17 meters high will hit it.
This is a model of the consequences of a possible collision of Apophis with the Earth.
But the greatest danger is posed by asteroid N 29075 with a diameter of 1.1 km, which may collide with the Earth in 2880
Slide 11
Our overpopulated solar system
Our solar system is a very busy place. Although most attention is paid major planets, there are also many rocks, comets and asteroids. This figure shows the positions of known objects in the inner solar system as of July 20, 2002. Thin blue lines show the orbits of the planets. The green dots show asteroids, officially known as minor planets. The red dots represent asteroids that are approaching the Sun within a distance of less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU - the distance from the Sun to the Earth), and thus could in principle (albeit with a very low probability) collide with the Earth. Comets are indicated by dark blue squares, and dark blue dots are Trojans - asteroids that orbit ahead or behind Jupiter. Note that most of the asteroids in the inner solar system are located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, in the main asteroid belt. The positions of the objects in this figure change every day, and the closer the object is to the Sun, the faster it moves.
Slide 12
Asteroids around us
Every day, rocks fall to Earth from space. Large stones naturally fall less often than small ones. The smallest specks of dust penetrate tens of kilograms into the Earth every day. Larger stones fly through the atmosphere like bright meteors. Rocks and pieces of ice the size of a baseball or smaller, flying through the atmosphere, evaporate completely. As for large rock fragments, up to 100 m in diameter, they pose a significant threat to us, colliding with the Earth approximately once every 1000 years. If dropped into the ocean, an object of this size could cause a tidal wave that would be destructive over long distances. A collision with a massive asteroid more than 1 km across is a much rarer event, occurring once every few million years, but its consequences can be truly catastrophic. Many asteroids go undetected until they get close to Earth. One of these asteroids was discovered in 1998 while studying an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (blue dash in the image). A collision with a large asteroid would not change the Earth's orbit very much. In this case, however, such an amount of dust would arise that the earth's climate would change. This would entail the widespread extinction of so many forms of life that the current extinction of species would seem insignificant.
Slide 13
Is there an antidote?
Most scientists, although reluctantly, say that if a sufficiently large object ever approaches the Earth, it is unlikely that people will be able to avoid their fate. Most of these objects, firstly, are very durable and easy to blow up, and secondly, they fly at such speed that even getting hit by them, for example with a nuclear charge, is like jumping into a moving car. full speed ahead train. Today, there are two main ways to combat aliens from outer space: shooting an object with nuclear charges or changing its trajectory. For example. In July 2007, the American experiment to study the structure and composition of comet Temple 1 was successfully completed. A drill probe released by an interplanetary spacecraft crashed into a celestial body at a speed of 37 thousand km/h. This happened approximately 134 million km from Earth. The comet's nucleus was ejected from a crater with a diameter of 150 m.
Slide 14
New theories of the origin of man on Earth
Man appeared after a supernova explosion. The explosion of a supernova approximately 2.8 million years ago changed the climate on Earth and may have become one of the reasons for the emergence of modern man. This bold conclusion was reached by a group of Australian and German specialists based on a long study of ancient sediments at the bottom of the eastern Pacific Ocean, which preserve intact the “imprints” of prehistoric eras.
The comet revealed the secret. According to the hypothesis, perhaps it was comets that provided our planet with the “raw materials” for the emergence of organic life. In addition, there was an assumption that the substance that makes up these “tailed” cosmic bodies is very similar to a sponge and does not have a solid core. Among the material that was ejected into space from the surface of Tempel-1 were a lot of organic molecules.
Slide 15
It should be remembered that man, at his core, has always been and remains an optimist.
Thank you for your attention
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People have always dreamed of climbing to heaven. There are many fairy tales and myths about this. The English boy Jack climbed up a magic beanstalk; shamans had to beat a tambourine and call upon helping spirits in order to ascend to the upper world; Pharaohs built pyramids to become one of the stars. Heroes were carried to the seventh heaven by the bird Simurgh or a winged horse, prophets by angels, and sorcerers by demons... The gods lived up there, and they actively did not like people’s attempts to reach heaven: man seemed to them a dangerous competitor. The brave souls had a hard time - the gods threw lightning and caused floods. Helios burned Icarus, Jehovah destroyed the Tower of Babel, but people continued to storm the heavens.
In modern times, Europeans invented a new god for themselves - one that allowed them to become masters who create themselves, and who put the world at their disposal, like a workshop. Things immediately went faster - and now our ships are plowing through outer space! But the myths have not gone away. They live in our souls not because we know little, but because the life of the soul is inextricably linked with myths. After all, as one of the greats said, a myth is not a story about what supposedly happened once. This is a story about what always happens.
1 Space as communism
Formulation There will be a lot of everything there, everything will be common and for free
Main character Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Gorbovsky
Reflection in culture This myth is entirely Soviet; its appearance coincided with the beginning of space flights. Neither Karl Marx nor Friedrich Engels considered space as a place where communism would be built, assuming everything would be established on Earth. Lenin was engaged in revolution, and he had no time for space. Stalin crushed the Jet Research Institute in 1938, shooting its leaders Ivan Kleimenov and Georgy Langemak, the creators of the Katyusha, and imprisoning future chief designers Korolev and Glushko. Space came with the wording “sabotage.”
The real basis of the myth can be considered the III Program of the CPSU, published by the newspaper Pravda on July 30, 1961. It was clearly stated there that by 1980 communism would be built in the USSR with all its material base, public property and satisfaction “according to needs.” An unprecedented thing was about to happen (in twenty years from poverty to communism - no joke!), and Gagarin and Titov were the best fit as symbols. The Strugatsky brothers appeared in literature with novels about the “World of Noon,” which cemented the myth by depicting communism as kind, generous, flying around the Galaxy. It is important that it was also close in time, almost coinciding with the timing of the program. (It could have been different: for example, Ivan Efremov placed the communist commonwealth of worlds in the 29th century - and with such dates this is no longer a collective myth, but baseless dreams.)
A more mundane version of the same myth - that in space everything is fairer, more generous and free - was formulated by American President Lyndon Johnson: “If we send a man to the moon, then we can help an old lady with health insurance.”
Reflection in reality In the 1970s, the timing of the onset of communism moved somewhat into the future; the myth did not cease to exist, but paradoxically became reality. There was no special communism, apart from sending foreigners into orbit for free. But it was drawn up “for growth”, for example, the “Agreement on the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies” (December 5, 1979) with the following words: “Exploration and use of the Moon
is the property of all humanity and is carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, regardless of the degree of their economic or scientific development.”
The future of myth If the aliens from Alpha Centauri do not teach us to fly through subspace, the myth will become irrelevant. After all, communism is a commune, and we don’t have large communities planned in space.
2 Space as capitalism
Formulation The usual terrestrial market will be replaced by interstellar trade
Main character Adventurer Donut from “Dunno on the Moon”
Reflection in culture Generally speaking, there never was a myth about the capitalist cosmos. Market relations are a concrete matter, and dreams of this kind must also be concrete. A Russian serf will believe that he will be set free with some land, and a Moscow intellectual will believe that he will become a businessman by opening a restaurant in Goa, India. But the collective consciousness is resistant to stories of successful lunar tritium trade.
So the plots of books and films about how interstellar trade is established on other planets are rather not a myth, but a common sense idea about human nature.
Reflection in reality Unlike the utopia of space communism, space capitalism is alive and well. The market for space services today ($350-500 billion) includes communications, navigation, maps, television, etc. There is also the market for spacecraft launches, where we proudly call ourselves leaders and indeed are: 30-40% of all commercial Russia has been launching in recent years. But this is only 1-2% of the total volume of services and only about $500 million. It is paradoxical that Russia, which created the communist myth about space, is now busy only with counting profits, and in the twenty extra years has not sent a single device into deep space. And the United States, which earns the most from orbital services, sends dozens of ships to the planets solar system and spend billions of dollars on scientific projects such as orbital observatories.
The future of myth There will be stories about “tritium fever”, some asteroid diamonds and preferential taxes on Mercury business. “This is the only place where you can make real money, son,” the veteran will say to the newcomer, when people are firmly established in the solar system.
3 Space is like death
Formulation Something will come from heaven to Earth that will destroy everything and everyone
Main character Cool guy like Bruce Willis
Reflection in culture Space holds the record for the number of apocalyptic scenarios presented to humanity: the Earth will be destroyed by an asteroid or sucked into a giant funnel; The sun will go out; earthlings will be destroyed by aliens, or our spacecraft will bring from some planet along with a soil sample a deadly virus for which we will not be able to find a cure. Thanks to Hollywood films like “Armageddon” or “The Fifth Element”!
Fear of space is a relatively recent phenomenon. The ancient Greeks worshiped it: Heraclitus called it “the most beautiful harmony,” for Plato it was “the most perfect of things that have arisen,” “a statue of the eternal gods.” But the development of astronomy has made it possible to see that instead of gods, stones are rushing around there, unidentified objects are flying, and in general the Earth, compared to other planets and bodies, looks small and defenseless.
Reflection in reality Astronomers have whole business- track dangerous asteroids and comets, and NASA constantly publishes detailed reports based on the fact that once every hundred years a boulder measuring 50-100 meters in size does fall to Earth.
In Russia, an enthusiast of this matter, scientist Alexander Zaitsev, organized the Center for Planetary Defense and developed the Cita-del-1 system, which will shoot down asteroids with nuclear missiles. “Right now, no country has any way to protect itself from this horror,” he says. So far no money has been allocated for the system.
And scientists have long agreed to work with samples of alien soil as if they were infected with deadly bacteria, that is, in prepared laboratories and according to the rules of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). There would be soil.
The future of myth There are only two options: either he will fuck you up or he won’t fuck you up; Either they will be infected or they won’t. And a myth will either be created by someone, or it will no longer exist.
4 Space is like life
Formulation Life came from space, and we will find it there
Main character Comet with bacteria
Reflection in culture Initially, “The Earth was formless and empty” - only thanks to heavenly intervention does life appear on it. This hypothesis occurs both in ancient myths and sacred books, as well as in the most modern scientific monographs. IN late XIX century, the concept of panspermia appeared. The embryos of life are scattered in outer space and brought to our planet. The hypothesis was supported by authoritative scientists such as Nobel laureate Svante Arrhenius. And since the great microbiologist Louis Pasteur proved in the middle of the 19th century that life cannot spontaneously originate, only the hypothesis of panspermia saved the scientific worldview in biology, because there were no other ideas for another half a century.
Reflection in reality Only Americans are seriously looking for life. “To find and explore habitable areas on Mars and other worlds and determine whether life exists anywhere in the solar system and has ever existed in the past,” NASA’s 2007-2016 program states. Haven't found it yet.
Strictly speaking, they are looking for water and normal temperature conditions, outside the solar system - with telescopes, and inside - with devices, for example rovers: the next of them will go “for life” this year. And in 2015-2025, the European, American and Russian space agencies will send several spacecraft to Jupiter’s satellite Europa. Europa is covered in a thick crust of ice, which landers will drill through and melt in search of frozen bacteria.
The future of myth Either we will find life, or we will have to figure out why the Earth is so unique in the Universe with its endless trillions of planets. We'll find it soon.
5 Space as "others"
Formulation Fundamentally different creatures will come to us from outer space, for whom everything will be different - mind, biochemistry, morality. Thanks to them we can understand who we ourselves are
Main character"The Greys", Mulder and Scully
Reflection in culture Contact with “others” is described in every second science fiction creative work. It usually occurs during the reception of an important foreign delegation. The meeting can take place in an atmosphere of mutual distrust and saber-rattling (this was the sin of Western science fiction) or in a warm, friendly atmosphere (this option was preferred by Soviet writers).
However, in last decades the plot of the meeting with the “others” has changed. Instead of a pretentious meeting, there is a quiet penetration. The aliens come not with blasters, but with anal probing devices. For a huge part of humanity, aliens are a reality that surpasses any imaginable absurdity: they draw crop circles, gut cows, leave banal galactic messages, kidnap and rape women and have no intention of sending us an official delegation.
In the mass consciousness, “others” have firmly occupied the place that previously belonged to devils, goblins and other evil spirits. “Aliens have frequently visited Earth: how to distinguish the good from the bad?” - announces its next issue of “Steps of the Oracle”, a newspaper with a circulation slightly less than “Russian Reporter”. The invasion has already begun - not from space, but from some black holes of our consciousness.
Reflection in reality When preparing for contact, we behave like users of the same name social network— we are engaged in self-presentation and are looking for a suitable interlocutor. The American probe Pioneer 10, now moving beyond the solar system towards Aldebaran, carries a plate of gilded aluminum similar to works of primitive art. It is engraved with a naked man and woman, as well as peacefully naive indications of the location of the Earth. In 1962, our country also sent radio signals into space with the most beautiful words in the world: “Peace. Lenin. THE USSR". The cosmos was warily silent in response. Listening to space radio broadcasts as part of the SETI program aimed at searching for extraterrestrial “voices” did not produce results. This could mean anything: that we are alone in the Universe, and that radio is not popular in the Universe.
The future of myth By 2020, the international community plans to complete the construction of the giant SKA radio telescope, which will be able to catch even television programs that residents of the star systems closest to us like to watch. Meanwhile, politically correct Hollywood is trying to improve the image of aliens: in Avatar, the main space western of our days, we, the “cowboys,” are the bad guys, and they, the “Indians,” are idyllic.
6 Space as loneliness
Formulation We are the only civilization in the Universe
Main character Planet Earth, view from space
Reflection in culture There are many inhabited and intelligent worlds, Giordano Bruno argued, for which he was burned in the Square of Flowers in 1600. According to the church, Bruno’s statement contradicts Holy Scripture, and the scientist’s rehabilitation is directly related to the fact of extraterrestrial contact. In a conversation with Russian mathematician Vladimir Arnold in 1998, Pope John Paul II spoke in this spirit: “If you find aliens, then Bruno’s theory will be confirmed and the issue of rehabilitation can be discussed.” In the twentieth century, theological audacity and banal curiosity smoothly developed into a feeling of painful longing for a cosmic friend: we never found aliens, and skepticism is increasingly heard in the words of scientists.
Reflection in reality The scientific fate of aliens is not easy. Lone heroes, seriously confused by extraterrestrial contacts, rather put the average researcher on guard - are they schizophrenics? Nevertheless, the question of the existence of aliens was resolved at the highest scientific level. In 1961, 11 leading world experts gathered at the American Green Bank Observatory in a semi-secret format - so as not to spoil anyone’s reputation - with the firm intention of finding out whether aliens really exist or not. The famous “Drake equation” was compiled, which describes the probability of contact with formal accuracy. If it is solved, then it will be impossible to argue with the presence or absence of aliens. It’s just impossible to solve this equation: it includes seven coefficients, of which only one is currently known - the rate of star formation.
The future of myth If aliens exist, we will find them. It all depends on the power of the telescopes. The observable Universe contains approximately 1022 stars. Of these, only a few thousand have been “listened to” today.
7 Space is like war
Formulation The Universe is the field for the main battle of humanity. Good will win in the final
Main character Darth Vader
Reflection in culture Already the first known science fiction work about an encounter with aliens was called “War of the Worlds.” His radio shows, made as reports in live, caused unstaged panic - in 1938 in the USA and in 1949 in the capital of Ecuador, Quito, where a crowd, after experiencing horror, furiously destroyed a radio station. The experiment showed how easily we are ready to believe in an alien invasion.
“...The thought of an invasion from the stars is a projection of the aggressive traits of a predatory, uncouth ape. Since she herself would willingly do something nasty to her neighbor, she imagines the High Civilization in her own image: flotillas of galactic dreadnoughts fall on the poor planets to get to the local dollars, diamonds, chocolate and, of course, beauties. And they need them no more than we need female crocodiles,” writes Stanislav Lem in the novel “Fiasco.”
A lot of flying saucers have been derailed since then - in movies, books, comics, video games... And the most suitable shell for the universal heroic myth that any boy needs were stories about guys with multi-colored lightsabers - modern children " star Wars“I care much more about earthly wars.
Reflection in reality The conquest of space was initially part of the earthly war: the Third Reich did not have enough time to develop the “ultimate weapon”, as a result, their best rocket scientists, led by Wernher von Braun, went to the United States, and the V-missiles themselves from the Peenemünde test site went to us. Yuri Gagarin's flight was not just a victory for science and reason - it was a major victory Soviet Union in the Cold War, and Armstrong's landing on the moon was a revenge, a major symbolic step towards the current US world leadership.
The USA and the USSR carried out nine nuclear explosions in near-Earth space, pretty much scared each other, and in 1963 they signed a treaty banning them. But one space war did take place; American President Ronald Reagan managed to combine the Hollywood myth with reality. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program, adopted in 1983, envisaged the construction of a gigantic orbital network of hundreds of space “forts” filled with combat missiles and lasers. The project was completely utopian, but what envy it aroused among Soviet boys! As a result, the USSR did not meet the costs of protecting itself from virtual SDI, lost the war and collapsed.
The future of myth Orbital military equipment will be used in earthly wars, and you can’t really count on alien aggression. As a last resort, we have someone to rely on - in Great Britain alone, about 400 thousand people wrote “Jedi” in the “Religion” column during the 2001 census. And in the Russian Space Forces, the rear service was headed by Colonel Ioda in 2007.
8 Space as a world
Formulation Peoples fly peacefully from star to star, forgetting about earthly squabbles
Main character Alexey Leonov and Thomas Stafford
Reflection in culture Since the times of paganism, space has been the place where it is most convenient to place dreams of universal happiness. The 20th century greatly politicized the topic and moved from speculative reasoning to concrete cosmopolitan planning. The friendship of peoples was proclaimed by the writer and scientist Ivan Efremov, followed by all Soviet science fiction: “The health and future of humanity swung on the scales of fate for several years until the new triumphed and humanity in a classless society united into one family.” Other intelligent children of the Universe also join this classless family, forming what Efremov called the Great Ring - a community of highly developed civilizations. The mechanism of transition from classism to cosmic classlessness is shown by Nosov in “Dunno on the Moon” - a children’s version of “Capital” by Karl Marx. There could be no wars in this universe of happiness.
Reflection in reality For now we pretend that we are ready to repeat Dunno’s experience. The peak of space friendship between the leading world powers was the docking of the Soviet and American ships Soyuz 19 and Apollo, which took place in July 1975. This project between the USA and the USSR was an addition to earthly friendship: almost at the same time, the leaders of the countries Nixon and Brezhnev signed many agreements in Helsinki - the phrase “détente of international tension” appeared. By that time, the parties had built so many nuclear missiles that even the most rabid “war hawks” realized: it was time to stop. Now the role of such a project is performed by the International Space Station. There is nothing to share in space yet.
The future of myth To test the myth, it would be nice for us to encounter a supercivilization and test the Strugatskys’ maxim: “Superintelligence is necessarily good.”
9 Space as a frontier
Formulation For adventures - into Space!
Main character Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong, characters from almost any science fiction novel
Reflection in culture The frontier is the border between developed and undeveloped territories, a place of trials and extraordinary opportunities, where everyone is their own master and creator of their own destiny. In the 19th century, the frontier of civilization was the Wild West, and when it ceased to be so, it turned out that we desperately needed new border territories. It was then that the views of the romantics turned to heaven. After all, space is nearby, behind the clouds, a hundred kilometers away - many have a dacha and even further.
Star sagas and operas glorified the conquerors of new planets and space vagabonds. Entire generations saw themselves in dreams as brave space explorers and were going to follow on the dusty paths of distant planets, leaving their hateful life at a distance of light years and parsecs. In our dreams, we conquered Herbert’s Dune and Harry Harrison’s “indomitable planet,” and also brought civilization to the Saraksh Strugatskys.
Reflection in reality Gagarin's flight was the main event of the last century, and the accident and miraculous return of the failed Apollo 13 lunar mission was the most exciting adventure. When Neil Armstrong finally set foot on the surface of the Moon in 1969, it seemed to everyone that this was truly a giant step for humanity, which would be followed by the rapid conquest of neighboring planets.
But robots are much better suited for the role of space Columbus. About 500 people from 36 countries have already been in space, but it is robots who get the pioneering missions. Two Pioneers and two Voyagers have already left the solar system and will most likely be flying to nowhere for an eternity.
The future of myth Apparently, Mars and the satellites of the gas giants with oceans hidden under ice are still waiting for us, because man’s calling is to test himself by conquering the world.
10 Space is like a home
Formulation We will live in space as in our own apartment
Main character Space man
Reflection in culture The myth is absolutely engineering, like the entire 19th century that gave birth to it: civilization will one day achieve such power that space will become just a material for creativity. This was invented by Russian cosmist philosophers, who themselves later became mythical figures. The founding father of the movement, librarian Nikolai Fedorov, for example, stated at the end of the century before last that “your action must, through your will, become a universal law of nature.” He also planned to resurrect the dead, was very concerned about where to resettle them, and in the end he found a place - in space. His student, engineer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, had to create transport for this - rockets, which is where the world's cosmonautics came from. In his philosophical works, Tsiolkovsky reshaped the Universe according to the wishes of the mind: “Where on the planets they encounter a desert or an underdeveloped ugly world, they will painlessly eliminate it, replacing it with their own world. Where good fruit can be expected, there it will be left to develop.”
Reflection in reality So far we have not reached the first stage of transformation into a supercivilization: we do not consume energy even within the planet (this is the first type according to the classification of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolai Kardashev, the second is consumption within the Solar System, the third - within the Galaxy).
The future of myth The idea of the continuous growth of power and the spread of humanity in all directions is so universal that the myth will exist for a very long time. He will die only when we, in our search for extraterrestrial intelligence, discover gods or become like gods ourselves.
n1.docx
Government of St. Petersburg
Social Policy Committee
St. Petersburg State Budgetary Special Rehabilitation Center educational institution average vocational education– technical school for disabled people
"Vocational Rehabilitation Center"
Abstract on life safety
by profession NPO 230103.02 “Master of digital information processing
Topic: “Space dangers: myths and reality”
student of OVM group 20
Koptyaev Dmitry Andreevich
Saint Petersburg
2013
War of the Worlds 3
Flying Saucers 3
Cosmonauts of the Third Reich 4
"Plate" boom 5
Secrets of the Empire 6
Myth about the Tunguska meteorite 7
Non-meteorite version 7
Overshot 8
Scientists have solved the mystery of the Tunguska meteorite 8
Meteorite danger
Large cosmic bodies 9
Another danger of meteorites 10
Collisions with large cosmic bodies 11
Space Guard 11
Jet thrust - stone Age astronautics 12
Starship project "Valkyrie" 12
Conclusion 13
War of the Worlds
"War of the Worlds" ("Struggle of Worlds") (English) The War of the Worlds) is a novel written by H. G. Wells in 1897 and describing an alien (Martian) invasion of Earth. The plot of the novel was suggested by the writer’s brother - “War of the Worlds” is dedicated to him. But in fact, all these are sick fantasies; if aliens needed to conquer the Earth, they would have done it long ago. If you believe professional contactees with extraterrestrial civilizations, then there are no alien monsters, and people on other planets are no different from earthlings, only they are taller and physically stronger, and little green men are sold in any alien hardware store as home robots. From the point of view of highly developed alien civilizations on Earth, the climate is not the same and the ecology is bad, the aliens have a much better life and have an abundance of minerals. So there is no need to be afraid of war with aliens.Flying saucers
UFOlogical literature is full of reports of "flying saucers", the origin of which is explained by subtle worlds, then the arrival of aliens from Mars, Venus, Sirius... But at least all unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are of a purely earthly nature, being man-made products of man, and at the same time manufactured a long time ago, starting in 1944. When contacting extraterrestrials, witnesses often point to "men in black", tall, blond, scary-looking, who speak poor English. There is a version that these crews are of earthly origin. “Men in Black” are attributed to German researchers, deeply undercover, who, after the collapse of the Third Reich in remote places on Earth, continued to develop aircraft unusual shape, including those also known as “plates”.Cosmonauts of the Third Reich
The Third Reich should be considered one of the pioneers of astronautics. Hermann Oberth and Wernher von Braun worked there. Oberth theoretically designed a rocket to fly into outer space in 1923, and his faithful student von Braun, working at Peenemünde, the Nazi rocket center, developed ballistic missile, conducted experiments on launching rockets into outer space. In 1998, the American ufologist V. Terzinsky visited Star City. He gave a lecture on ufology to Russian cosmonauts and demonstrated rare film and photographic materials related to the Third Reich. Terzinsky claimed that in March 1945, the Germans launched a huge “flying saucer” to Mars, while the flight was controlled from the South Pole of the Earth. Twenty years ago, a lecturer would have been considered crazy, and the astronauts would hardly have listened to him. In 1998, the reaction was already different. Ready to fly Already by 1944, the first “flying saucer” was created in Germany, developed by the Luftwaffe Technical Academy. Other similar aircraft of unusual shape and design were in varying degrees of readiness. It was rumored that the Germans had launched a rocket to the moon. In 1944, astronomers actually recorded unusual activity on it, which could not be caused by natural causes: light flashes, flickering, mysterious shadows, etc. The Americans, who received the archives, designs and finished products from Peenemünd in 1945, were amazed at how far Nazi scientists had advanced in the development of rocket technology. The V-2 was a ballistic missile that could carry a nuclear warhead from Europe to the United States. They also discovered a design for a two-stage composite cruise missile A9/A10, which included an astronaut cabin. The famous saboteur of the Third Reich, Otto Skorzeny, recruited a detachment of 500 astronauts. In one of the variants of the V-2 project, a kamikaze astronaut was supposed to control it (however, there was also an option to save him by ejecting when approaching the target). This missile was aimed at New York. In 1945, Wernher von Braun and a group of rocket scientists surrendered to the American secret services. There is a famous photograph where he stands with a broken left arm in a cast, with a satisfied smile on his face. In principle, the German SS major Wernher von Braun even won by surrendering to the American authorities and ending up overseas. He was provided with not the worst, but even Better conditions for space research than in Nazi Germany, which squandered money only for military needs. The Nazi leaders, seeing the inevitability of the collapse of the Third Reich, prepared the ground for retreat ahead of time. To do this, they created secret bases in hard-to-reach corners of the Earth: in Latin America and, as is believed, in Queen Maud Land (Antarctica). That is why Terzinsky indicated that the control of the Martian ship came from the South Pole. The Germans urgently transported equipment and personnel to these places using submarines, transferred currency, gold, and jewelry to foreign banks, and hid museum treasures. Nazi technologies in the field of space research were adopted and continued not only in the United States as part of the Apollo program, for which Wernher von Braun was developing the launch vehicle, but also at secret bases, the affiliation of which was unknown, where new types of aircraft were created. In 1947, American Admiral Richard Byrd equipped an expedition to Antarctica - to Queen Maud Land, where, according to rumors, they founded their secret underground city, called New Schwabenland, by the Nazis. It was there that it is believed that the “flying saucer” projects were developed. Strange, but for the peaceful exploration of Antarctica (as was officially announced in the USA), Byrd included warships in his flotilla. Then suddenly the expedition was aborted without achieving anything. According to subsequently leaked information, Byrd was allegedly attacked by some unidentified disc-shaped aircraft, which instantly appeared and disappeared just as instantly. It was impossible to resist them, and Richard Byrd, the famous explorer of the South Pole, turned back. Since 1947, there have been constant reports of aircraft of unknown origin, which have been called "flying saucers." First, such a “plate” (or several of them) crashed in Rohwell, New Mexico, USA. Then such cases became more frequent, and eyewitnesses began to meet the crews of these flying objects. One of the sensational cases of meeting people in black is the riddle of Albert Bender. In 1953, this employee of an industrial company in Connecticut, USA, had contact with three mysterious visitors in black suits. They looked intimidating, and they spoke telepathically. The guests in black asked, through Bender, not to put any obstacles in their way while they went about their business on Earth, carrying out some mission. They also reported that they had kidnapped several people for their research. The aliens informed the employee that they had agents in various parts of the Earth, mainly in the Pentagon. The men in black showed Bender an image of nuclear weapons warehouses on Earth and said that they could detonate all these deadly weapons at once at any moment."Plate" boom
In April 1945, Major Robert Staver, a US intelligence officer, inspected an underground V-2 rocket plant. What appeared before the eyes of the seasoned intelligence officer stunned and amazed him. "It was like Aladdin's Cave of Wonders!" – the American could not resist words of admiration for Nazi technologies. So, it is quite possible that German designers continued to develop and test new technology, including “flying saucers,” even after the collapse of the Third Reich. Was this what American businessman Kenneth Arnold saw while flying over the Rocky Mountains of Washington in 1947? After this, the “plate” boom begins in the world. Meetings with the crew, dressed in black formal suits and speaking poor English, only added fuel to the fire. The FBI maintains a dossier that describes an incident that directly indicates the presence of secret German developments in the field of “flying saucers.” In 1942, one of the prisoners of war, a Pole, was in the Gut als-Gollsen concentration camp, 30 miles from Berlin. Once, he and other camp prisoners were working at a facility, part of which was fenced off with a huge tarpaulin. This part of the facility was guarded by the SS. Suddenly there was a sharp and loud sound, as if an electric generator had started working. The engine of the tractor that was clearing the area instantly stalled. The noise continued for several minutes. During this time, the tractor driver was unable to start the engine of his car. The SS guard drove the prisoners away from this place. Nevertheless, the Pole made his way to the restricted area and was able to see a round metal aircraft rising above the tarpaulin canopy. Its diameter was approximately 75 to 90 meters. The central part of the apparatus, about 1 meter in size, rotated rapidly, so that it appeared as a blur, as if a propeller was rotating. The saucer was tested on the ground and did not take off. Nevertheless, the report about it ended up in the annals of the US intelligence services. After the May 1947 crash of three “flying saucers” with crews of mysterious pilots in the area of New Mexico, Texas, the leadership of the US Air Force turned to German rocket scientists who were at American secret military training grounds. A group of German scientists led by Ernst Steinhoff and Wernher von Braun prepared a special report devoted to the analysis of this extraordinary event of the 20th century. This is what this document says."White Sands Proving Ground. UFO Events. Interim Report.
1. According to the presidential directive of July 9, 1947, a group of Air Force experts conducted a preliminary examination of the discovered “flying saucer” and debris, possibly a second UFO...
2. All groups of experts agreed that the aircraft discovered by the Air Force was not manufactured in the United States. This conclusion was made on the following basis (subparagraphs a, b and finally c follow, on which we will dwell): c) German scientists from the Fort Bliss base and from the White Sands test site were unable to identify these disks as secret German V-type weapon. (Assumptions follow).
Secrets of the Empire
So, the German rocket scientists were unable to identify the remains of the broken devices as experimental samples of some new top-secret German technology, which was being developed at that time, naturally, underground. However, the American military had suspicions that such developments belonged to the invisible empire of the Fourth Reich, dispersed across various corners of the globe. Wernher von Braun and other German specialists working in the United States could well act on the principle of “friendship is friendship, tobacco apart” and did not unnecessarily share their secrets with new American “friends.” Thus, the secret of German developments remained unsolved for the Americans. The main goal of the former German specialists who went underground and were supplied with Reich gold was to reproduce the “black international” with the help of the latest ultra-modern military equipment. This was the only way they could see future revenge for the defeat of the Third Reich.
In Russia, we also created hovercraft, the same flying saucers, even their drawings were published in the magazine “Modelist-Konstruktor”. So there is no need to be afraid of flying saucers; they are all of earthly origin.
The myth of the Tunguska meteorite
Exist different opinions about the phenomenon of the Tunguska meteorite. According to some reports (newspaper fiction?) on this day (June 30, 1908), Nikola Tesla conducted an experiment on transmitting energy “through the air.” A few months before the explosion, Tesla claimed that he could light the way to the north pole for the expedition of the famous traveler R. Peary. In addition, there is information (in the form of unconfirmed rumors) that he asked libraries for maps of “the least populated parts of Siberia.” That is, some connection between these two events can be seen.The hypothesis about the connection between Nikola Tesla and the Tunguska meteorite is relatively new. Its appearance dates back to the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century.
Note: In the article “The Tunguska meteorite and time: 101TH HYPOTHESIS OF THE SECRET OF THE AGE”, the time of appearance of this hypothesis is considered to be 1996 (the author of the idea is the predictor Manfred Dimde), while the article states that in 2000 the idea was voiced in A. Gordon’s television program .
Non-meteorite version
"A careful study of the Tunguska events also suggests a non-meteorite version, that the disaster occurred as a result of a sudden release of wireless energy. Neither professional nor amateur astronomers observed any fiery object that evening: what would have happened if an object weighing 200,000,000 pounds had entered the atmosphere at speeds of tens of thousands of miles per hour. The first reporters from the city of Tomsk who arrived in this area concluded that the stories about the body falling from the sky were the figment of the imagination of impressionable people. They also noted that the explosion was accompanied by considerable noise and There was a crash, but no rocks fell from the sky. The absence of an impact crater can be explained by the fact that there was no material body there. An explosion caused by wave energy would not have left a crater. Thus, the theory of an impact with an ice comet turned out to be untenable. Meanwhile , status reports upper layers atmosphere and magnetic changes that were reported from different parts of the world during and immediately after the Tunguska events show a lot of changes in the electrical state around the Earth. Baxter and Atkins, in their study of the explosion - "A Visit to the Fire" - speak in an editorial in the London Times of minor but clearly noted disturbances ... of magnets, "which the authors, unaware of the explosion, associated with solar flares."Overshot
Uninhabited area between Alaska and North Pole could be intended as a target for a test run of a wireless transmission system. Fired a destructive electric wave super-shot at this target. However, the earth's measurements accepted in those days were not accurate enough to solve this problem. Whoever hid the demonstration of Tesla's energy weapon must have been very scared: either because it missed its intended target and endangered populated areas of the planet, or because the weapon worked too well and led to the destruction of such large area with the simple flip of a switch, thousands of miles away. Whatever the reason, Tesla did not receive the fame he was looking for.P.S. In parallel with Tesla, Mikhail Mikhailovich Filippov conducted experiments in Russia on transmitting energy over long distances. As an experiment, he lit a chandelier from St. Petersburg in Tsarskoe Selo. In June 1903 in St. Petersburg, during the laboratory work during the transmission of explosion waves over long distances, M. M. Filippov died under unclear circumstances. The police seized his devices and papers.
Scientists have solved the mystery of the Tunguska meteorite
“Only two versions can be seriously considered - volcanic and meteorite,” says professor, head. Laboratory of Regional Geochemistry of the Institute of Geochemistry SB RAS, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Sergei Antipin. “But the problem is that we have not yet discovered any meteorite substance on the crater, and there are no volcanoes, even ancient extinct ones, in the area for almost a thousand kilometers - the area is considered absolutely not volcanic. But the crater is really “fresh” - the rocks on the outer ring shaft have not even had time to weather and become overgrown with moss. I estimate its age at one hundred to five hundred years.” Let the Tunguska meteorite, as it is believed, fall not in the Irkutsk region, but in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. But they didn’t find him there! And from the supposed crash site to the Patom crater in a straight line, it’s only a little over 700 kilometers. For cars flying at speeds up to 70 km/s, this is only an extra 10-15 seconds of flight. Maybe the Patom crater is precisely the crater of the Tunguska meteorite? The age also matches. An emergency on the Podkamennaya Tunguska River occurred in 1908. And this coincides with the age estimates of the Patom crater made by geologists. So is this the Tunguska meteorite?
As can be seen from the diagram, this crater was left by an unidentified flying object that is located underground. It could be a meteorite, alien spaceship, but most likely this is a rocket built by Nikola Tesla. A meteorite of this size would have been noticed by astronomers long before it approached the Earth, so the meteorite version is implausible. An alien spaceship could not suffer such a catastrophe, since highly developed alien civilizations have ships that are quite reliable. Therefore, the version of its earthly origin is the most plausible, especially considering that Tesla experimented with electric propulsion engines and built a high tower, which mysteriously disappeared just before the appearance of the Tunguska meteorite. But a rocket looks little different from a tall tower, which means he was building a rocket.
Meteorite danger
Large cosmic bodies
Is there a danger of the Earth being destroyed from space? All large celestial bodies, the size of a kilometer or more, have already been “picked up” - there are not so many of them. One of these bodies may collide with our planet in half a century, and the second in 2147. A collision with such a large space object will lead to the death of humanity. The situation with small objects is complicated - of the celestial bodies larger than 100 m, approximately 50% have been taken into account. Smaller objects cannot be counted. It is also impossible to predict whether any of them are going to crash into the Earth. Of course, the death of all humanity from such dwarfs will not happen, but an average city can burn out completely. Small bodies periodically fall to Earth, mostly, however, into the ocean. The Tunguska cosmic body, while falling, burned out 2 thousand square kilometers. In 2005, a meteorite fell on a cotton field in Turkmenistan - fire, noise, people thought that the war had begun
In the 20th century About 100 cases of meteorite falls have been recorded. Between August 1972 and March 2000, US Air Force early warning satellites recorded 518 meteorite impacts on the Earth with an impact force of 1 kiloton or more of TNT (objects at least several meters in diameter). This is an average of 30 cases per year. The vast majority of these meteorites burned up in upper layers atmosphere.
However, not a single case of death from meteorites is still known.
Another danger of meteorites
However, it is possible that meteorites still pose a mortal danger. After all, they can bring microorganisms to our planet from space that will be destructive to people. In the 50s of the last century, many scientists dealt with this problem. However, as soon as one of the researchers declared that he had discovered at least some sign of the presence of living matter in the composition of the meteorite, a hail of caustic criticism immediately fell upon him. Opponents began to accuse the daredevil of the fact that sterility was violated during the experiment, and the discovered The bacteria in the meteorite are of terrestrial origin.In 1961, biochemist Rudolf Karp, who worked at the University of Michigan, spoke at the VII London Conference on Astrophysics and Geophysics and spoke about the incredible results he had obtained by studying the composition of meteorites, in order to avoid accusations of violating the conditions of the experiment. Karp washed each meteorite under study in twelve sterile solutions, including solutions of various acids, hydrogen peroxide and saline. Then, for several days, the meteorite was irradiated with ultraviolet light, after which it was placed in a bactericidal liquid, from where it was transferred to a sterile chamber, where the experiment itself was carried out. and it turned out that inside most of the studied “space rocks” there are... extraterrestrial bacteria! These microscopic living creatures were ring-shaped with an uneven surface. They could grow and multiply. Consisting of proteins, carbohydrates and lipoids, they were in many ways reminiscent of terrestrial bacteria, but they lacked a cell nucleus, so the method of their reproduction remained unclear.
However, Rudolf Karp's performance was met with boos and ridicule. Distressed by the misunderstanding, the researcher abandoned the study of meteorites and switched to other problems. On June 27, 1963, his laboratory burned down under mysterious circumstances. The results of many years of work were lost.
However, the bacteriological meteorite danger is far from the only one among the possible troubles associated with space hazards.
Collisions with large cosmic bodies
The works of historians, modern astronomical observations, geological data, information about the evolution of the Earth's biosphere, the results of space research on planets indicate the existence of catastrophic collisions of our planet with large cosmic bodies (asteroids, comets) in the past. Currently, according to scientists, about one and a half thousand asteroids larger than a kilometer in size are wandering in the Solar System, each of which poses a real threat to humanity. From time to time they move into orbits that intersect with the orbits of the Earth and other planets. This raises the possibility of their collision with planets.Space Guard
A special project “Space Shield Foundation” has been created in the world. Scientists involved in the project, including Russian scientists from the Snezhinsky Center, are studying celestial bodies that may somehow threaten the Earth. A potentially dangerous body can be detected several decades before a collision and... appropriate measures can be taken. A rocket with a nuclear charge can be sent to an asteroid; you can install a low-thrust engine on it, which will gradually move the asteroid away from the Earth; after all, a small asteroid can simply be cut with a laser. The best solution so far is considered to be launching a rocket with a nuclear warhead towards an asteroid, which will explode before reaching it. The point is not to “shoot” the asteroid (this will lead to even greater complications), but to use the energy of the explosion to divert it from the course aimed at colliding with the Earth. Unfortunately, on a cosmic scale, nuclear weapons are weak even for such small bodies as asteroids and comets. The generally accepted opinion about its capabilities is greatly exaggerated. With the help of nuclear weapons, it is impossible to split the Earth or evaporate the oceans (the energy of the explosion of the entire earth's nuclear arsenal can heat the oceans by one billionth of a degree). All the planet's nuclear weapons could crush an asteroid with a diameter of only nine kilometers in an explosion at its center, if this were technically feasible.The task of preventing the most real threat of collision with asteroids with a diameter of one hundred meters is solvable at the current level of earthly technology.
One of possible systems Experts from NGOs named after them suggested combating such a sudden danger. S.A. Lavochkin, in which Russian spaceships are designed. This system consists of three blocks, the first of which is used to observe and record large objects flying near the Earth.
In general, astronomers are quite successful in solving this problem. Modern observation systems, in which the telescope is equipped with powerful electronics, the so-called CCD matrix, allow optical data to be immediately entered into a computer, which determines the parameters of the cosmic body. Most likely, already in this decade all more or less dangerous asteroids will be detected. Then there will remain much less convenient for observation and much more dangerous objects - comets and their dark cold cores, which remain after everything that can evaporate from the comet under the influence of the Sun has evaporated. Since the orbits of these objects change greatly due to interaction with the planets of the solar system, catching them is very difficult.
But the main problem in the observation of cosmic bodies dangerous to the Earth is that if an object flies to Earth, its trajectory is very poorly visible: it almost does not change its position on the celestial sphere. Therefore, astronomers currently cannot calculate the speed of such an object. And without knowing the speed, it is impossible to calculate the orbit and determine whether it will hit the Earth or not. To solve this problem, you need to see the object from two points simultaneously. Back in 1996, it seemed possible to take two observatories and connect them with a fiber optic cable to synchronize observations. Today, astronomers' enthusiasm has waned, and they now rely only on orbital observatories. If three orbital telescopes are placed around the Earth at a distance of 60 million kilometers from the planet, then there is hope that a suddenly appearing object can be detected a month before colliding with it.
After the warning system reports a danger, a reconnaissance aircraft must fly to the space body. The reconnaissance mission is to fly past a dangerous asteroid or comet and accurately calculate the parameters of its orbit. Most likely, it will be made on the basis spacecraft type "Phobos", on which a nuclear charge carrier will be installed. It could be a descent vehicle like the one that successfully descended on Venus, or it could also be a clip of several penetrators - devices dropped from a spacecraft that penetrate several meters deep into the cosmic body. When nuclear charges explode, this body will either turn into plasma or greatly change its trajectory. Over the past 10 years, three international conferences“Space Protection of the Earth” – in 1994, 1996 and 2000. Scientists around the world are researching the meteorite threat and methods to combat it.
Jet propulsion - the stone age of astronautics
To deliver nuclear charges to an asteroid, a very powerful launch vehicle is required, capable of launching a spacecraft with nuclear charges into orbit. And even if you launch a special ship into orbit, there is no guarantee that on the way to the asteroid it will not collide with some meteorite and suffer a catastrophe. The disadvantage of jet propulsion is that it is bulky, unreliable and uneconomical. The ship can burn out while flying through the dense layers of the atmosphere.Starship project "Valkyrie"
But all celestial bodies fly without jet engines. Hence the conclusion: build a ship that flies on the magnetic-gravitational principle. This is both more reliable and safer. This is how the Valkyrie starship was designed.
The heart of the Valkyrie starship is a powerful nuclear reactor, from which the so-called “planetary engines” - generators of a magnetic-gravitational field - receive power. According to scientists' calculations, the thrust of such a spacecraft is hundreds of thousands of times greater than the thrust of the most powerful launch vehicle. In addition, the nuclear reactor is capable of powering a powerful laser installation on board the ship, which can be used to cut any asteroid. It is planned to install a drilling rig in the bow, making it possible to drill through any cosmic body. And finally, such a spaceship is capable of moving a fairly large asteroid in outer space. So there is no need to fear a meteorite threat in the future