An creative person ’s impression of an asteroid approaching EarthNASA
What would pass if a huge asteroid were manoeuver toward Earth ? Though this might be the subject of innumerable Hollywood movies , it ’s also a real concern for space agencies like NASA and its Planetary Defense Coordination Office . This is the section responsible for for organize NASA ’s response to a potentially deadly threat from the skies , and to begin with this year it ran the world ’s most spectacular persona - manoeuvre , simulate what would come about if a unsafe asteroid were spotted on a hit course with the planet .
The point of the use that NASA played out , along with FEMA ( Federal Emergency Management Agency ) and the Department of State Office of Space Affairs , was that an suppose asteroid was spy that had a 72 % luck of dispatch Earth in around 14 years ’ metre . With a long lead time , there are actions that outer space agencies could take to render to deflect the asteroid , like theDART mental testing , which deliberately crashed a space vehicle into an asteroid in 2022 and managed to change its course .
An artist’s impression of an asteroid approaching EarthNASA
One of the challenges of this exercise was that it was n’t known what the sizing or composing of the asteroid was , hit it hard to predict how effective any intervention might be . This simulates some of the challenge of genuine asteroid detective work , as information on trajectory , shape , slew , and composition is n’t always fuck as the same time . There are also challenges in observing asteroids as they pass behind the sun and can be impossible to observe for month at a time .
Another challenge was bringing together responses from dissimilar agencies , such as FEMA , that would coordinate responses on the ground . “ Our military mission is helping multitude before , during , and after disasters,”saidLeviticus “ L.A. ” Lewis , FEMA detailee to NASA ’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office . “ We mould across the country every day before disasters happen to aid the great unwashed and community understand and prepare for possible risk . In the consequence of a potential asteroid encroachment , FEMA would be a leading role player in interagency coordination . ”
NASA accentuate that there are currently no known asteroids that threaten Earth , though it is important to be cook if such a scenario were ever to occur . The further in approach an asteroid were to be identify , the more clock time is available to jump on a reception .
“ A large asteroid impact is potentially the only natural disaster humanity has the engineering to predict age in advance and take action at law to prevent , ” said Lindley Johnson , NASA erratic defence officer emeritus .
NASA has so far only publish arelatively brief summaryof the finding from the exercise , but a more complete report is expected to follow .
