MP awaits meteor report

A Nasa simulation of an object hitting earth

A Welsh MP is hoping his efforts to convince the government that the Earth faces a serious risk from objects hurtling through space will be rewarded.

Montogomeryshire MP Lembit Opik - a keen astronomer - has campaigned for two years to highlight the very real dangers of Near Earth Objects (NEOs).

The 1908 strike in Tunguska (Rusia) would have wiped out the equivalent of Cardiff and district

Lembit Opik MP

The findings of a task force headed by Professor Harry Atkinson - a former chairman of the European Space Agency - is set to reveal how great the risks are considered.

Science minister Lord Sainsbury will receive the task force's findings.

Prof Atkinson's report is likely to suggest that the government set aside up to £20m for a new telescope to comb the skies from the southern hemisphere.

The taskforce also draws on the expertise of Sir Crispin Tickell, the former British ambassador to the United Nations, and Professor David Williams, of the University College, London.

Lembit Opik MP: Hopeful about report

Estimates suggest that a 100-metre object hits the Earth every 10,000 years and a 1km wide object - with the force of 10 Hiroshimas - hits the planet every 100,000 years.

Such facts give Mr Opik cause to believe the issue - once dismissed as pure science fiction - will be taken seriously.

"It is make or break time for my campaign," Mr Opik told BBC News Online Wales.

"If the government says Lembit is right - there is a clear and present danger - then we can move things forward."

Mr Opik would then specifically request that the British government makes use of UK expertise and sets up a space monitoring project to help track some of the 4,000 objects that could cause devastation to the planet.

Asteroids pose a distant but very real risk

He hopes that the project could be based at the Armagh Observatory, in Northern Ireland, where his grandfather, Ernst Julius Opik worked.

"I am carrying on politically where he started off," Mr Opik added.

The Welsh MP believes it will be important to convince G8 members to place the issue on the agenda of its next summit and for each of them to commit £1m of investment over 10 years to a full monitoring programme.

The final - and most ambitious stage of Mr Opik's vision - is for world leaders to then commit up to £3bn to send probes into space, which would divert objects away from the planet.

This could involve detonating a small nuclear explosion deep in space.

"The 1908 strike in Tunguska would have wiped out the equivalent of Cardiff and district and caused £5trillion damage in today's terms," he added.

"That will mean investing £3bn is a worthwhile insurance."