Global warming is a huge concern. Average temperatures have risen an average of 2° Celsius across the globe, sparking concerns over the fate of our biosphere. These changes are nothing compared to the catastrophe a few billion years in our future. Our sun, a yellow G-class star, is most likely going to evolve into a red giant with a diameter greater than Earth’s orbit. If we’re still around, our successors will be nostalgic for the good old days of the 21st century.
Enter Gregory Laughlin, planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, who formulated a solution to prevent Earth’s destruction. With help from D.G. Korycansky and Fred Adams, they outlined a plan to nudge Earth out of her orbit with asteroid flybys over the course of millennia. What Greg couldn’t model was mainstream media’s outrageous reaction to, and twisting of the science behind Astronomical Engineering: A Strategy For Modifying Planetary Orbits. The media’s ridiculously short attention span is just the icing on the cake.
