Government should spend MILLIONS on asteroid defence every year to save humanity, warns Lord Martin Rees
AN RESPECTED astrophysicist has warned that governments should be spending "millions" every year on asteroid defence.
Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, believes that it would be a small price to pay to insure against the plight of humanity.
Addressing a panel of international asteroid experts during a press conference on Tuesday, Lord Rees said: "I think we are all aware that we on planet earth are vulnerable to impacts from outside we know evidence these have happened in the past.
"It may not be the greatest risk or highest profile short term risk confronting earth, but if you make an assessment of what insurance premium it is worth paying in order to reduce impact, you would come up with a figure of several hundred million euros a year - which the world should be spending to reduce this risk."
Lord Rees said it would take a two-pronged approach to ensure Earth could survive an asteroid collision.
First scientists must detect all space rocks that have a potentially hazardous orbit - something that Nasa is already working on.
They must come up with a system which could deflect or destroy one of these threats.
Lord Rees made the comments during a press conference to drum up interest for World Asteroid Day, which will take place on June 30 this year.
It was founded in 2014 by filmmaker Grig Richters, Silicon Valley business leader Danica Remy, Apollo 9 Astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and Dr. Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen.
Experts have warned that a newly discovered asteroid 2015 BN509 - which is larger than London’s Shard - could later smash into Earth.
It swished past Earth last week but astronomers believe it could pose a risk to humanity if its orbit alters at a later date.
Asteroid apocalypse emergency plans were revealed in a shock announcement from White House officials shortly before former president Barack Obama left office.
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