What are some safety tips for asteroid impacts?

Answer 1

If you know that an asteroid is going to hit a specific place on the Earth, the most important safely tip is to be somewhere else.

Asteroid impacts are falling rocks. BIG rocks, because we get hit by little rocks all the time and mostly we don't pay much attention to them.

Right now, there is no way to prevent an asteroid from hitting the Earth, and so far, we have been remarkably unsuccessful in detecting the large rocks in the vicinity of Earth in enough time to do anything about it anyway. The first EVER example of scientists detecting a space rock on a collision course with Earth happened last October, and the detection gave us a grand total of THIRTEEN HOURS advance notice.

As telescopes and radar improve, we will slowly develop detection systems that will be able to track incoming threats. But what to do about them? It currently takes about 18 months, MINIMUM, to get a space probe off the ground and headed toward its destination. If we were trying to destroy or deflect an inbound asteroid, we might try setting off nuclear weapons on one side, to try to alter the orbit of the asteroid, or we might try using rocket engines to push it enough off course so as to miss the Earth. But small asteroids that would be easy to deflect are small enough to burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere, and things big enough to be dangerous are too massive to be moved with any power at our command.

One of the things that we need to develop over the next few decades is a technology capable of nudging a massive space rock into some safe trajectory.

Answer 2

1. Stay informed by paying attention to updates from relevant authorities.
2. Have an emergency plan in place, including shelter locations and emergency supplies.
3. If there is a warning of an asteroid impact, follow evacuation orders promptly.