Today, astronomers control more than 2,200 potentially dangerous asteroids of more than a kilometer in diameter that swarm in the terrestrial proximities. Certainly the real risk of collision in the next few decades is very low, since they will not come close enough to pose a real threat. Still, scientists carry out models to simulate what could happen if one of these bodies were to go on a fatal trajectory, as it did 65 million years ago, marking the demise of the dinosaurs.
Now, a new online application allows anyone curious to know the consequences of a space rock crash anywhere in the world: from Los Angeles to Kathmandu, passing through London or Madrid. Even the smallest town. You just have to click on the link and enter the desired parameters and the place where we want our simulated space body to collide.
You can choose from several different compositions of space rock (asteroids made of iron, stone, carbon, or gold, or a comet, made of ice) and select their diameter (up to a mile), impact velocity, and angle of impact. Then the ‘zero ground’ is selected on the map, to then press the button ‘launch asteroid’. The app will then tell us how many people have virtually died in the process, not just from the impact and crater, but also from the fireball, blast wave, blistering winds, and subsequent earthquake.
What would happen in Madrid
For example, using the maximum parameters that the application allows (larger size, speed and with an impact angle of 90º), a 1.5-kilometre metallic asteroid that fell in the center of Madrid would cause, according to the program, a crater of 70 kilometers in diameter that would reach populations such as Alcala de Henares, Galapagar o illescas.
Crater created by the simulated asteroid fallen on Madrid
The impact alone, which would have more energy than the last supereruption at Yellowstone, would kill almost 5.5 million people. However, by the subsequent fireball, the entire Iberian Peninsula, North Africa and southern Francewould be affected, with some 32.5 million people dying and some 23 million people being seriously injured by burns.
Simulated asteroid fireball falling on Madrid
And the damage would not end there: the shock wave would affect almost all of France, Morocco and Algeria, although the strong winds would reach even further and a 9.2 earthquake would occur. Almost all the people on the peninsula would perish in the event of such an impact.
Shock wave power and winds after asteroid strike
As a fact: it is believed that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was 11 kilometers in diameter, more than seven times more than our simulated rock and that it would end all life in our country.
Asteroid Launcher is a work of computer scientist Neil Agarwhalwho based the application data on several scientific studies whose objective was to calculate the effects of the impact of a hypothetical asteroid.