Customer Reviews

Hazards Due to Comets and Asteroids (Space Science Series)

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Professional look into the treat from cosmos

This is a scientific book addressed to professionals, although the main ideas will be of interest to the general audience. The potential threat of a global catastrophe caused by a large asteroid or comet impact has been the centre of public attention for quite some time. It generated many discussions mainly in the popular literature and in various sites on the Internet. While very illuminating, these discussions are not sufficient for somebody who, like myself, would be interested in undertaking research in this area. The reviewed book fills this gap by providing the up-to-date and in-depth account of the problem and possible methods of solution. I believe the book establishes the foundation of a new branch of science associated with the problem of cosmic defence.

Being an expert in the area of Fracture Mechanics, I am naturally interested in developing mechanically sound methods of deflection and destruction of the Near Earth Objects (NEO) on the collision course with Earth. The reviewed book thus proves to be an invaluable source of information in this respect. It covers the whole range of aspects related to the problem from the types and probabilities of threat to possible defence methods. From my prospective, the most important are two aspects: (a) the identification of different types of cosmic threat (from large solid bodies to the not least dangerous clouds of small objects) and; (b) the possible types of internal structure and composition of the NEOs. All these as well as other aspects (the NEO detection, methods of the NEO defence, the environmental consequences) are covered in great depth.

I would strongly recommend this book everyone starting a research in the area.