What would happen if a never-before-seen asteroid were hurtling towards us and potentially colliding with Earth?
That’s the hypothetical scenario NASA astronomers tested in a recent simulation, as officials tried to plan for an asteroid that has a 72 percent chance of hitting Earth within just 14 years.
After a theoretical timeline was presented to nearly 100 government representatives in April, NASA discovered that their best plans to counter dire doomsday scenarios had several “high-level gaps.” According to their presentation.
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“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. stated in a 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 the exercise, asteroids ranged in size from 60 meters to 800 meters, with the most likely sizes being between 100 meters and 320 meters.
Complicating the scenario, scientists said, is that the approaching asteroid then passed behind the Sun, making it invisible from Earth for at least seven months.
The experiment was the first to use data from NASA’s DART (Dual Asteroid Reorientation Test) mission, a first-of-its-kind technology designed to protect Earth from a potential asteroid impact.
NASA said in a statement that applying the technology to a real threat would require “years of advance planning,” but the test gave the agency a way to gauge its readiness for a potential asteroid threat.
“These findings will help shape future exercises and studies to continually improve planetary defense preparedness for NASA and other government agencies,” Johnson said.
