Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
How to Kill an Asteroid
- The Real Science of Planetary Defense
- Narrated by: Graham Mack
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
How to Kill an Asteroid
Pre-order Now for £19.29
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
A gripping account of the "city-killer" asteroids that could threaten Earth and the race to build a planetary defense system.
There are approximately 25,000 "city killer" asteroids in near-Earth orbit—and most are yet to be found. Small enough to evade detection, they are capable of large-scale destruction, and represent our greatest cosmic threat. But in September 2022, against all odds, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission deliberately crashed a spacecraft into a carefully selected city killer, altering the asteroid's orbit and proving that we stand a chance against them.
In How to Kill an Asteroid, award-winning science journalist Robin George Andrews—who was at DART mission control when it—reveals the development of the technology that made it possible, from spotting elusive asteroids and comets to figuring out their geologic defenses and orchestrating a deflection campaign. In a propulsive narrative that plays like a sci-fi thriller, Andrews tells the story of the planetary defense movement, and introduces the international team of scientists and engineers now working to protect Earth.