Mankind’s helplessness against celestial forces was evident once again as a 55-foot rock, with an estimated mass of 10,000 tonnes, exploded 30-50 km above the earth causing shockwaves that injured over 1,200 people living around the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. In a chilling cosmic coincidence, an asteroid (2012 DA14), merely a pebble in terms of the size of our galaxy, whizzed past at a height of 27,000 km just a few hours after the exploding meteor, perhaps to remind us how insignificant we are as opposed to the forces of Nature. One such “rock” on landing had wiped out dinosaurs millions of years ago; and if this one had landed, the destruction may have been horribly immense.
Amid the din, as the meteor exploded with an energy of around 20-30 times that of the single atomic bomb that rained devastation on Hiroshima in 1945, could be heard the plaintive voice of a Russian official saying: “Instead of fighting on earth, people should create a joint system of asteroid defence.”
The sentiment was a touching reference to the huge fuss human beings make as we talk of nuclear deterrence and pretend we do this only to protect ourselves from our enemies. Pacifists over the years have noted we are so cosmically insignificant as to collectively amount to little more than a blob in the cosmos; yet we spend trillions of dollars trying to destroy each other even when we know just a rock is enough to send our earth into oblivion!