I’m talking about the movie, not the end of the world, of course. According to a recent press release, “a team of scientists and engineers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) are conducting research that could one day save humanity from asteroids threatening Earth.”
They are working on methods of deflecting asteroids that might endanger Earth with lasers. The head researcher, Dr. Richard Fork of UAH Laser Science and Engineering Group, said that someday it could be possible to put a laser in space or on the moon for looking at asteroid properties and perhaps alter their trajectories away from Earth.
The work is funded by the U.S. Army and involves a local company that employs several of Fork’s former students. The research does not concern characterizing or deflecting asteroids, but Fork sees a connection. “My vision is that this system is the progenitor of the laser that could characterize and deflect asteroids,†he said.
