Asteroids: Assessing Catastrophic Risks

Graciela Chichilnisky and Peter Eisenberger

Working Papers from LAMETA, Universtiy of Montpellier

Abstract: Sixty five million years ago an asteroid crashed into earth Global winds distributed the dust throughout the atmosphere, blocking sunlight, and many lifeforms that relied on the sun eventually perished. In a short period of time, many experts believe, the mighty dinosaurs that dominated our planet went extinct. Realistically the same fate awaits us. Over 99.99% of the species that have ever existed are now extinct [13] [12]. If our species survives long enough, we will be exposed to an asteroid and could suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs. The data suggests that asteroids of that caliber will hit our planet on average once every 100 million years [12]. The last one was 65 million years ago. Under current conditions, when the next one hits the earth, humans and many other species could go extinct[...].

Pages: 16 pages
Date: 2009-11, Revised 2009-11
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Journal Article: Asteroids: Assessing Catastrophic Risks (2010)
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