Threats to Earth from Space
Date: Monday 7th November 2016
Time: 7pm
Venue: the Victorian Bar, Tron Theatre
Speakers: Professor John Brown (Astronomer Royal) and Professor Massimiliano Vasile
In the earliest days of the solar system (~ 1-5 GYr ago) its planets underwent heavy bombardment from space debris left from the proto-planetary nebula around the sun. Such impacts continue with diminishing intensity, in ‘modern’ times, probably causing mass extinction of species as recently as 65 MY ago, and at least two impacts in the last 100 yrs near to causing major human catastrophes. Such impacts are among a range of low likeliehood/ high consequence risks to humanity from space which will be discussed. Others include: man-made space debris falling to earth or damaging key space-based facilities; solar activity and space weather; lethal radiation from remote but hugely violent cosmic explosions; dangerous micro-organisms from space; hostile aliens. A distinct viewpoint for discussion is the bleak view promulgated by Lord Rees and others that cosmic threats are inconsequential alongside near certain and imminent self-destruction by earth-bound human activities.
Professor John C Brown is 10th Astronomer Royal for Scotland and former Regius Chair of Astronomy in Glasgow University. He won the GU Kelvin DSc Medal 1984, a 2002 Institute of Physics Award for promotion of astronomy and the Royal Astronomical Society Geophysics Gold Medal 2012 for his work on solar and stellar physics. He is currently a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow working on impact of infalling debris on the sun and stars.
Massimiliano Vasile is Professor of Space Systems Engineering and Head of the Aerospace Centre in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at the University of Strathclyde. He is also the coordinator of the Strathclyde Space Institute and the lead of the Stardust European network on asteroids and space debris (winner of the 2015 Sir Arthur Clarke award for space research). In 2001 he started the ESA Advanced Concepts Team before moving to Politecnico di Milano in 2004. He is the author of 214 publications, ranging from computational intelligence to astrodynamics, and one book on Computational Intelligence in Aerospace Sciences. http://cms.mecheng.strath.ac.uk/people/default.aspx?id=736575