An edition of Asteroid (1996)

Asteroid

Earth Destroyer or New Frontier?

New edition
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Last edited by ImportBot
September 15, 2021 | History
An edition of Asteroid (1996)

Asteroid

Earth Destroyer or New Frontier?

New edition

Asteroids sling through space, celestial debris of diverse origins: leftovers from the formation of the solar system, broken offshoots of parental asteroids, or comets that have lost their glow. For the first time in a popular book, Patricia Barnes-Svarney discloses how some asteroids - rich in precious minerals such as gold and platinum - may one day be lassoed and mined by man.

She also explores how the natural resources that abound in some asteroids could possibly support human life, leading to their colonization and use as space stations. One day, too, they may reveal to us the secrets of the origins of life.

  1. But if an asteroid merely one kilometer in diameter - about the size of eleven football fields end-to-end - were to smash into Earth, it would mean a global catastrophe. And if a larger asteroid - one the size of Vermont - were to strike, life on our planet would come to an end.

We know that we've been struck before - from the large and small impact craters that dot the Earth's major land masses. If, as one theory states, the chance of a major collision is currently about one in ten thousand - similar to that of dying from anesthesia during surgery or of being killed in a car crash during any six-month interval - should we be living in fear? How could we possibly prepare ourselves for such a disaster?

Patricia Barnes-Svarney, an asteroid enthusiast since childhood, asserts that the threat is real, and that there are better defenses than those now in place. In Asteroid, she vividly evokes both the perils and fascination of these heavenly bodies that have the power to yield untold rewards - and boundless destruction.

Publish Date
Publisher
Basic Books
Language
English
Pages
308

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Asteroid
Asteroid: Earth Destroyer or New Frontier?
August 1, 2003, Basic Books
Paperback in English - New edition
Cover of: Asteroid
Asteroid: Earth Destroyer or New Frontier?
September 1996, Plenum Publishing Corporation
Hardcover in English

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Book Details


First Sentence

"Vesta, the third-largest known asteroid in our solar system, is the only asteroid that can be seen with the naked eye."

Classifications

Library of Congress
QB651

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
308
Dimensions
8.4 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
Weight
12.5 ounces

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7899692M
ISBN 10
073820885X
ISBN 13
9780738208855
Goodreads
1385945

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
September 15, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
July 17, 2019 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
April 24, 2010 Edited by Open Library Bot Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs.
April 16, 2010 Edited by bgimpertBot Added goodreads ID.
April 29, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from amazon.com record