An international group of astronauts, scientists and others have called for a rapid expansion of efforts to detect asteroids capable of causing widespread destruction on earth, warning that this is one of the biggest threats to humanity in the coming centuries.一个由宇航员、科学家等人构成的国际团体敦促尽早增大探测力度，找到那些需要对地球导致大面积伤害的小行星。该团体警告说道，这是未来几百年内人类面对的仅次于威胁之一。Led by Lord Rees, Britain’s royal astronomer, and Brian May, a PhD in astrophysics as well as guitarist with the rock band Queen, the group said a hundredfold increase in the number of objects detected each year was necessary over the next decade.这个团体以英国皇家天文学家里斯勋爵(Lord Rees)和天体物理学哲学博士、皇后乐队(Queen)吉他手布赖恩梅(Brian May)派。
该团体回应，今后十年，有适当把每年找到的天体数减少一百倍。Academic projects to detect and track asteroids that might one day collide with earth have been under way for more than 50 years. The work was boosted in 1998 when Nasa was given a decade to identify near-earth objects with a diameter of more than 1km — a size that would turn a collision into a potentially extinction-level event.找到和跟踪有可能与地球撞的小行星的学术课题已积极开展了逾50年。
1998年，美国国家航空航天局(NASA)曾被拒绝在十年内找到直径小于一公里的近地天体，从而增大了这一工作的继续执行力度。当天体的直径小于一公里时，与地球的撞就有可能造成地球上的生物绝种事件。However, astrophysicists warn that asteroids and meteors as small as 50m across could still cause devastation on earth, with a direct hit capable of wiping out a city and killing millions. An undetected meteor estimated to be 20m in diameter entered the atmosphere over Russia last year and exploded at a height of several miles, causing a shockwave that injured 1,500 people (pictured). Even the devastating 1908 impact at Tunguska in Siberia, the largest in human recorded history, was caused by an object of only around 50m, said Lord Rees.不过，天体物理学家警告说道，即使是直径只有50米的小行星和流星，仍有可能造成地球上的极大灾难，因为它的必要碰撞能吞噬一个城市并造成数百万人遇难。
去年，一个事前未被发现的、直径估算为20米的流星曾转入俄罗斯海面大气层，并在几英里高空发生爆炸，产生的激波曾造成1500人伤势。里斯勋爵回应，人类历史上有记录的最大规模碰撞事件是1908年再次发生在西伯利亚通古斯的灾难性碰撞事件，然而即使是造成那次碰撞的天体，直径也只有约50米。Only around 1 per cent of the 1m asteroids, meteors and comets that could cause massive damage on earth have been detected so far, according to a declaration by the group issued on Wednesday.根据该团体周三公布的声明，到目前为止，在有可能对地球导致大规模破坏的1百万小行星、流星和彗星中，人类已找到的只占到约1%。“Nasa has done a very good job of finding the very largest objects, the ones that would destroy the human race,” said Ed Lu, an astronaut who flew three trips to the International Space Station. “It’s the ones that would destroy a city or hit the economy for a couple of hundred years that are the problem.”曾三次攀上国际空间站(International Space Station)的宇航员卢杰(Ed Lu)回应：“NASA在找到能吞噬人类的很大天体方面获得了相当大成绩。
现在的问题是那些不会吞噬一个城市或造成经济衰退几百年的天体。”“The more we learn about asteroid impacts, the clearer it becomes that the human race has been living on borrowed time,” said Mr May, who broke off his academic studies to become a musician but returned to complete his PhD at the University of London’s Imperial College in 2007. The campaign launched this week is intended to raise awareness and put pressure on governments to act, he added.该团体敦促人们近期将主要精力放到危险性天体的探测工作上，而不要意图寻找吞噬或冲出危险性天体的手段。
卢杰回应，处置将与地球撞的小行星“比较更容易”。他说道，找到小行星后，距离未来的撞有可能还有几十年的打算时间，“提早这么长时间找到的情况下，人们要做到的只是向它们升空飞船而已”。里斯勋爵回应，作为对NASA地基望远镜的补足，要想要探测有可能对地球导致毁灭性的压制的小型天体，有可能必须在地球和金星之间飞行中的飞船上加装红外望远镜。
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