We've all seen movies in which the world is threatened by an extinction-level asteroid collision. But, with just seconds to spare, we escape such a fate thanks to the quick-thinking and bold sacrifices by good-looking lead characters.
That scenario is quite possible... and also impossible, notes John L. Remo, an astrophysicist and research associate at Harvard University who studies real-life "killer" asteroids. He's not trying to be ambiguous – just highly precise, which is par for the course for this noted man of science.
Remo, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., attended Manhattan College before continuing his graduate studies at State University of New York in Stony Brook before getting his Ph.D. in physics at (what is currently called) the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. The study of near-Earth objects has filled Remo's life – from his work as a graduate student to his studies now as a 73-year-old, simulating planetary collisions using high-powered lasers at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. Remo told Headlines and Global News he'll probably "retire with (his) boots on," which is preferable, he believes, to retiring and watching the world's reality-TV "mess."
Do you think it's important then to give it another try? Is that the key to unlocking more of these mysteries: launch more landers, even if we might lose them on comets?
We could lose them on comets, but it's well worth the effort. There should be more of these satellites, unmanned, automated rendezvous, because when we have to do the interception, it's going to be automated. You can't joystick it from the earth. It has to be a totally automated mission, and so all the experience we can get on rendezvous and automated rocket interceptions is very valuable.
Is there anything that I didn't ask about that you think is important for people to know?
Support basic research. It's a necessity. It's not a luxury. It's the only way we're going to survive to the future. You can't put the genie back in the bottle. We have the good and the bad in technology, and we have to learn how to maximize the good and minimize the bad. It shouldn't be a political issue, because science serves the benefit of humankind, and we've got to make the first priority in taking care of the planet that we were endowed with by nature. Once we ruin the earth, we're not going to be recoverable.
This interview was edited for length.
