(News Nation) — NASA’s preventative doomsday approach reached new heights in a test simulating a hypothetical asteroid that would hit Earth in 2038, according to a report released this week.
of simulation This was the fifth Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise, in which NASA, the U.S. government and international representatives attempted to plan for an asteroid that has a 72 percent chance of impacting Earth within 14 years.
“The uncertainty of the initial conditions in this exercise allowed participants to consider especially challenging situations,” said Lindley Johnson, Planetary Defense Officer Emeritus at NASA Headquarters in Washington. news release.
“A large asteroid impact may be the only natural disaster that humanity has the technology to predict years in advance and take precautions.”
In this exercise, the asteroids ranged in size from 60 meters to 800 meters, with the most likely size being between 100 meters and 320 meters.
Several strategies have been proposed to counter this threat, but administration officials favor a U.S. government-led approach with international support and a possible fly-by rendezvous, rather than waiting until November for telescope observations.
“These findings will help NASA and other government agencies shape future exercises and studies to continually improve planetary defense preparedness,” Johnson said.
The exercise aimed to strengthen preparedness against potential asteroid threats and served as a forum for discussions between relevant agencies and potential international partners.
this is, Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) MissionAn incident in 2022 in which a spacecraft changed the orbit of an asteroid.
