{"id":12855,"date":"2024-06-26T19:25:15","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T19:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=12855"},"modified":"2024-06-26T19:25:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-26T19:25:15","slug":"nasa-planning-doomsday-scenario-for-asteroid-with-72-percent-chance-of-hitting-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=12855","title":{"rendered":"NASA planning doomsday scenario for asteroid with 72 percent chance of hitting Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA says an asteroid impact is the only natural disaster we can ‘predict years in advance and take action to prevent’<\/h2>\n

So there’s an asteroid that has a 72 percent chance of hitting Earth in the next 14 years – what is NASA going to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That’s the – don’t panic – hypothetical scenario the folks at NASA have recently been trying to respond to in case a world-ending impact is ever on the cards.<\/p>\n

Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the\u00a0sun<\/a>. While they’re smaller than planets, you certainly wouldn’t want one to be heading towards Earth, never mind hitting it.<\/p>\n

Which is why astronomers over at\u00a0NASA<\/a>\u00a0have been preparing for this very event.<\/p>\n

\n
\"NASA<\/div>\n

NASA has been planning for an asteroid that has a 72 percent chance of hitting Earth (Getty Stock Photo)<\/cite><\/div>\n

The hypothetical scenario has seen scientists testing a simulation in which they planned for the possibility of an asteroid having a 72 percent chance of hitting our planet in 14 years.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a report<\/a>, NASA explained that while there is no known significant threat of an asteroid hitting Earth for the foreseeable future, hypothetical exercises like this one are invaluable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe uncertainties in these initial conditions for the exercise allowed participants to consider a particularly challenging set of circumstances,\u201d said Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer emeritus at NASA Headquarters in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cA large\u00a0asteroid<\/a> impact is potentially the only natural disaster humanity has the technology to predict years in advance and take action to prevent.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the simulation – which took place at the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in\u00a0Maryland<\/a>\u00a0– nearly 100 experts were asked to consider a response to the event, should it ever happen.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, initial findings were not ‘sufficient’ in understanding the asteroid’s size and route of travel.<\/p>\n

The scenario was made even more difficult by the fact that observations would need to be delayed by seven months.<\/p>\n

This was because in the hypothetical scenario, the asteroid had passed behind the sun, shortly after being discovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters,\u201d said Leviticus ‘LA’ Lewis, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) detailee to NASA\u2019s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work across the country every day before disasters happen to help people and communities understand and prepare for possible risks.<\/p>\n

“In the event of a potential asteroid impact, FEMA would be a leading player in interagency coordination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/div>\n

The exercise saw almost 100 experts come together to prepare the response (Getty Stock Photo)<\/cite><\/div>\n

The exercise used data from NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which helps defend Earth from the threat of asteroids.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, NASA’s NEO Surveyor – which is designed to speed up the detection of objects heading for Earth – is currently being developed.<\/p>\n

It’s expected the NEO Surveyor will launch in June 2028.<\/p>\n

Following the simulation, NASA will release a full report identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the report, including learnings and recommendations for how the response could be improved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA says an asteroid impact is the only natural disaster we can ‘predict years in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":257,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}