NASA Unveils Fresh Strategy to Intercept Asteroids Before Earth Impact
None of us want to imagine the world ending, but just in case an asteroid decides to play havoc, NASA has a game plan. And no, it's not just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. While Hollywood loves to show us apocalyptic scenarios and humanity's varied reactions, NASA's approach is more calculated.
Dr. Kelly Fast, a planetary defense expert, spills the beans on NASA's game plan. According to her, NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office is on a constant lookout, scanning the skies to "find asteroids before they find us." The silver lining? An asteroid impact is a natural disaster that NASA believes can be prevented.
So, how do they plan to pull this off? NASA, with its eyes on the future, calculates orbits to determine if a collision can be avoided through a deflection mission. Enter the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), NASA's potential superhero in this cosmic drama. Successfully tested in 2021, DART involves crashing an unmanned spacecraft into a small asteroid to alter its course away from Earth.
But what if DART isn't the hero we need? NASA has a backup plan for that too. In collaboration with the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), a global coalition of astronomers, they'd alert us about the impending doom. The IAWN would verify the findings, assess the danger, and once everyone's on the same page, NASA would shoot an alert to the White House. From there, the government would release a statement to the public.
Lindley Johnson, Lead Program Executive for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, assures us, "I don’t have a red phone on my desk or anything. But we do have formal procedures by which notification of a serious impact would be provided."
If the threat goes beyond borders, IAWN would notify the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. The only scenario where it might be too late for action is if NASA spots an asteroid impact just a few months before it hits. In that case, it might indeed be time to close your eyes and hope for the best.
However, as long as NASA keeps tabs on the cosmic wanderers well in advance, we can hopefully steer clear of the dramatic need for public alerts.
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