The following articles are reprinted with permission.

From Planetary Studies Foundation News, Summer 2006

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: STEVE KOPPES

Steve was born and raised in Manhattan, Kansas. He received his bachelor’s degree in anthropology, with honors, in 1978, and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas in 1982. He began his writing career at The Morning Sun in Pittsburg, Kansas. After that he worked as a science writer at Arizona State University, the University of Georgia, and since 1998 he’s worked at the University of Chicago News Office.

Q. You attended Kansas State University, what did you major in and how did you choose that major?

A. In the wake of the high-profile and embarrassing setbacks in evolutionary biology the state of Kansas has experienced in recent years, I take special pleasure in telling people that I received my bachelor’s degree in evolution in Kansas. More specifically my degree is in anthropology, which I majored in because of my special interest in fossils and evolution. I had become interested in many aspects of the natural world at a very young age, especially dinosaurs, oceans, and the planets. At age 10, I became close friends with another boy who introduced me to human paleontology, which is a sub-field of physical anthropology. So I enrolled at Kansas State with the intention of becoming a paleoanthropologist. By the time I was a senior, I decided that I could indulge my interests in a wider range of scientific fields by becoming a science journalist.

Q. Why did you become interested in meteorites?

A. The late Robert Dietz got me interested in meteorites. He was a geologist who helped pioneer the study of impact craters and I had the privilege and pleasure of working with him at Arizona State University from 1985 until he died in 1995.

Q. Have you found any meteorites on your own?

A. Unfortunately, no, I’ve never found a meteorite. I used to fantasize about a meteorite crashing into my house or yard in Homewood, which is only a fifteen-minute drive from Park Forest. The Park Forest meteorite fall was my big chance. I actually considered buying a home in Park Forest a few years ago, but decided to stay in Homewood. I blew it!

Q. How did you become involved with the Planetary Studies Foundation?

A. I learned about the PSF after the fall of the Park Forest meteorite. Paul Sipiera co-authored a paper with two University of Chicago cosmochemists about the meteorite. When the Chicago scientists gave me a copy of their paper, I saw that PSF was one of Paul’s affiliations. My eyeballs almost popped out of my head! There was a Planetary Studies Foundation in the Chicago area? I quickly found the PSF web site and joined shortly thereafter.

Q. You wrote a book entitled, Killer Rocks from Outer Space: Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites. What made you decide to write a book?

A. The influence of Dr. Dietz shows here again. He inspired me to write the book, which actually started out as Dr. Dietz’s biography. He made pioneering research contributions to three distinct divisions of the geosciences: marine geology and especially sea-floor spreading, the recognition of meteorite impact structures on Earth, and the impact origin of the moon’s surface. He also conceived and organized Project Nekton, the plan to dive to the deepest spot on the ocean floor. Project Nekton culminated on January 23, 1960, when the Trieste submersible and its two-man crew dove seven miles to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean’s Challenger Deep. We’ve landed men on the moon six times, but the voyage of the Trieste has never been duplicated.

When I began working on the biography, I focused on Dr. Dietz’s meteorite-impact research. A friend of mine who had written a science book for young readers suggested that I approach his publisher to propose a book on that topic. I put the biography on hold so I could pursue that project, but now I’ve gone back to work on the biography. I find Dr. Dietz’s life and work to be endlessly fascinating.

Q. Is there anything that you feel our readers would be interested to learn about you?

A. My signature is on a metal plate attached to the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in orbit around Mars. Arizona State University geologist Phil Christensen, who heads the TES team, invited me along with approximately 100 other people who contributed to his project in various ways to sign a poster-sized sheet of paper that he photo-reduced and etched onto a small metal plate. He gave us all a reproduction of the plate as a souvenir. It is one of my prized possessions.

Q. Are there any words of wisdom that you would like to provide for our younger readers to help encourage them to an interest in science?

A. Many students and non-scientists seem to be under the impression that science is an unchanging body of knowledge. It is in fact an ever-continuing, dynamic process of discovery. It can also be great fun. Imagine what it must be like to be the first person in history to make a certain discovery and then to share it with others.
 

From Elite magazine, a Sunday supplement to the Daily Southtown (Illinois), February 2005. Reprinted with permission.

PRETTY BIG BOOM: ROCKS FROM SPACE CAN MAKE A MAJOR IMPACT
By Paul Eisenberg

The blazing fireball streaked across space for thousands, perhaps millions of years, carrying with it more than 2,000 pounds of iron, ice and rock. Its target: the Chicago south suburbs.

Meanwhile, terrestrial scientists and researchers didn't even know it was approaching. As most people in North America prepared to sleep, the fireball was descending upon the continent, about to unleash the power and force causing it to hurtle across the solar system at mercurial speeds for time uncounted.

It's the premise of epic science fiction books and movies. The scenario, with variations, is also part of our world's natural history.

Over the aeons, Earth has been hit hundreds of times by rocks falling from the sky. Some have been catastrophic, causing mass extinctions and reshaping the nature of life on the planet.

Without such heavenly intervention, it's conceivable that mammals might never have taken over as the dominant life form on Earth. Scientists theorize that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid or meteorite which struck the Gulf of Mexico about 65 million years ago.

Upon hitting the atmosphere here in the south suburbs, the asteroid described above broke into hundreds of fragments, littering Crete, Steger, Park Forest, Matteson and Olympia Fields with small meteorites.

It simply wasn't large enough to wreak the sam havoc as its earlier cousins. In fact, according to information published by NASA, an object would have to be the size of a small office building to survive passage through our protective atmosphere. The object which contributed to the demise of dinosaurs was about eight miles in diameter.

Nonetheless, the March 2003 event damaged some homes and the Park Forest Fire Department. In one case, a fragment of the asteroid crashed through a roof in that town, tore through a window shade, cratered the window frame, and then bounced around a bedroom, shattering a mirror. The resident of the home had just left that room and escaped injury.

Steve Koppes, a Homewood resident who works as a science writer for the University of Chicago, had recently finished his book for young adults on asteroids and the catastrophic results of their impacts with Earth, "Killer Rocks from Outer Space," when the 2,000 pound object struck the south suburbs.

"It was already at the printer, so there was no way to get anything in there about it," he said, nothing that if there is an updated version or second printing, he'll likely include information about the local strike. Even though, he said, the local meteorite fall was not remarkably large, and it produce a chondrite, a "fairly common" type of meteorite, "it got a lot of attention," he said. "It's rare for an event like this to be witnessed by so many people. I got e-mails from people in Southern Illinois, and people in Door County who saw the flash in the sky."

In fact, a scientist with whom he works at the university, Steve Simon, lives in Park Forest and witnessed the event.

Later on, Simon was one of the researchers who was able to quantify the size of the Park Forest meteorite by measuring the amount of cosmic rays the object had absorbed while it was flying through space. "The event is smaller, especially when compared to what happened to the dinosaurs, but to people who live here, it makes it more real," he said.

Still, even if the Park Forest event does make it into Koppes' book, it will not compare with the bulk of events described in "Killer Rocks from Outer Space."In his book, aimed primarily at junior high and high school-aged children, Koppes outlines the devastation caused in the past by gigantic missiles from space. And though the one that killed off the dinosaurs may have opened the door for mammals, especially humans, another event could end our reign. But that's not likely to happen in the near future.

Koppes said the kind of object that struck 65 million years ago strikes the earth at the rate of about one every 100 million years. But smaller objects that are large enough to make it through Earth's atmosphere, and can pack enough energy to wipe out a large city, can strike every 100 to 1,000 years. the last recorded event of that nature took place in remote Siberia in 1908, meaning our grace period could be nearly over. As the world's population continues to grow exponentially, the likelihood of the next such asteroid striking an unpopulated region is very slim.

In fact, there is evidence of more than 170 impact sites in the United States, including a crater buried beneath O'Hare Airport and another discovered in a quarry in Kentland, Ind., a few hours south of Chicago. One such ancient impact, in Canada, infused the area with so much of the mineral nickel that the region today produces much of the world’s supply. But these days, technology is on our side. Even though only a very small percentage of the sky is being tracked for asteroids that could potentially strike our planet, Koppes said most asteroids lurk in the watched areas. Comets, on the other hand, can come from other areas. "Comets could be a problem," he said. "But they're fewer and far between."

The Park Forest asteroid snuck up on everyone because it was so small, Koppes said. "It was the size of a boulder," he said. "You don't see stuff like that. It''s just too small."As Koppes waits for the next event, he offers lectures on "Killer Rocks" to groups of children, and to astronomy buffs as well.

While not in area book stores, as his publisher primarily markets books to schools, "Killer Rocks from Outer Space" is available through Amazon.com and other online booksellers. As for what's next for Koppes, he said when he's ready to commit another year or two of weekends and evenings to a project, he'll likely focus on more disasters, such as volcanos or exploding stars. "A book is an exhausting project," he said. "Right now, I'm enjoying not doing it."


From the Manhattan (Kansas) Mercury, May 30, 2004

KILLER ROCKS FROM OUTER SPACE
By Daniel Hobson
Staff Writer

When Steve Koppes writes about science, he's not rehashing stale facts - he's writing about the end of the world. Or at least the possibility that a "killer rock" from outer space could smash into the Earth, causing mass extinction.

Koppes, a Manhattan native who works as a science writer at the University of Chicago, has penned Killer Rocks from Outer Space, a book about dinosaurs, comets and meteorite impacts.

The book, which was released in January, is aimed at students in the 5th through 12th grade.

"To me, it's a fascinating topic - to think that a huge rock from outer space could destroy the majority of life on earth," he said from his office in Chicago.The book, released in September by Lerner Publications Co., has won numerous awards, including recognition from the Children's Book Council and being named to the Voices of Youth Advocates magazine's 2003 Nonfiction Honor List.

Koppes, 46, says his interest in science started when he was a young kid. "I can remember looking at the dinosaur pages of the family encyclopedia when I was 5 years old," he says. "I liked insects and birds and dinosaurs - anything science-related."

While in the second grade at Seven Dolors, his teacher went over a bit of astronomy and he was hooked. This was during the heyday of the space race when America was in close competition with the Soviet Union to explore the cosmos.

Koppes graduated from Kansas State University in 1978 and left Manhattan for Arizona in 1983. He eventually landed in Chicago. The inspiration to write Killer Rocks came from a scientist named Robert Dietz at Arizona State University. Koppes's book began as a biography of the Dietz, a pioneering geologist who studied impact craters on the Earth and moon.

But during its writing, a fellow science writer told Koppes that he ought to adapt the material for an adolescent audience. Koppes thought about his options and came to the conclusion that there's not many books on this topic for children.

"Really it's not appropriate for young children because it can get kind of scary," he says.

While the thought of an asteroid pulverizing the Earth can be scary, Koppes said it's unfortunate that American children aren't more interested in things relating to science.

"Almost every child is interested in science in elementary school," he says, "but by the time they are juniors and seniors, probably 90 percent don't have interest in science anymore. I guess we're just not doing a good job teaching it."

Koppes said science is not a static body of facts that children must be made to memorize. Current trends, he says, are to teach science as a process of discovery. This is a positive step - children can learn about the problems scientists are working on and the answers they hope to come up with. This way it's more than just rehashing facts, Koppes says.

Koppes says he hopes Killer Rocks from Outer Space will intrigue young minds like his family's encyclopedia did for him.

"If a child were to read this book and becomes inspired to become a scientist," he says, "that would be the best outcome I could imagine."

The book can be ordered in bookstores and on Amazon.com.

© The Manhattan Mercury

INTERESTING KILLER ROCKS' FACTS:

Comets travel about 130,000 miles an hour. That's fast enough for a comet to travel from the Earth to the moon in less than 2 hours.

A comet or asteroid exploded high in the atmosphere above Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908. The explosion flattened forests for hundreds of miles around. The rock was relatively small, measuring an estimated 50-60 yards in diameter but the explosion it generated was greater than the world's largest hydrogen bomb.

Tons of meteorological dust constantly enter the Earth's atmosphere. It's fairly common for small rocks to hit the Earth - it happens every day but most of the time people don't see it happen.

While small meteorites are fairly common, the large meteorite impacts that the book is mostly about are very rare. A meteorite large enough to cause a mass extinction - like the one that some believed to have been responsible for killing the dinosaurs - occur only every hundred million years or so. It's not something to lose sleep over!

Meteorites have left their mark on Kansas. Perhaps the closest impact to Manhattan is the Haviland crater in Kiowa County. It was discovered in 1929; although the owners of the farm thought it was just a buffalo wallow, it was in fact the site of 1,000-year-old impact. Despite the farmers' attempts to have it filled in, scientists were able to research the area.

- compiled by Steve Koppes, author of Killer Rocks from Outer Space

© The Manhattan Mercury

From ScienceWriters, the newsletter of the National Association of Science Writers, Winter 2003-04:

KILLER ROCKS FROM OUTER SPACE: ASTEROIDS, COMETS, AND METEORITES BY STEVEN N. KOPPES (NASW), PUBLISHED BY DISCOVERY

This book is not about astronauts or space technology but about dinosaurs. Koppes, a science writer at the University of Chicago News Office, describes the sudden and mysterious extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. He says scientists primarily believe that dinosaurs’ disappearance was due to a huge cosmic bomb—a comet or asteroid approximately six miles in diameter that blasted into the surface of the planet. “Throughout the past century, researchers have identified more than a hundred impact sites around the world created over the past 350 million years. They believe that another cosmic bomb is inevitable and that when it hits Earth, there will be few survivors.” He says to prevent that from happening, astronomers are constantly searching the solar system for asteroids and comets. They study them in the hopes that they could one day prevent them from destroying humankind. Koppes says he wrote the book because he became fascinated by the life and work of the late Robert Dietz, a pioneering researcher in the field of catastrophic meteorite impact with whom he worked with when Koppes was a science writer at Arizona State University: “I wanted to share it with a lay audience. When I took geology as an undergraduate in the 1970s, I can’t recall reading anything at all about meteorite cratering on Earth. It was an eye-opening experience for me to learn that scientists have discovered approximately 160 impact scars on Earth, and the list is growing.” Koppes can be reached at 773-702-8366 and skoppes@uchicago.edu. The publicist for the book is Madeline Cooper, Lerner Publishing, 612-332-3344, mcooper@lernerbooks.com.