The prospect of an asteroid crashing into Earth is terrifying. While Michael Bay’s 1998 film Armageddon depicted a fictional scenario, NASA has a plan in place in case it becomes a reality.
Apart from exploring methods to send humans to Mars, the US space agency is additionally looking at its backup plans in the event of a global catastrophe.
“There are no known threats to Earth, but planetary defense expert Dr Kelly Fast says it’s important to find the asteroids before they find us,” NASA notes.
“That’s why NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office keeps its eyes on the skies.”
After all, we don’t want humanity to go the way of the dinosaurs.
Well, NASA has explained all when it comes to preparation. Sitting down with NASA asteroid expert Dr Kelly Fast, she explains what would happen if fiction became reality.
“Well, it’s important to find asteroids before they find us in case we need to get them before they get us,” Dr Fast said.
“An asteroid impact is the only natural disaster that could be prevented.
“NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office supports projects to discover asteroids and to calculate their orbits far into the future.
“If an asteroid impact threat is discovered years or decades in advance, then a deflection mission might be possible. The first order of business for planetary defense is to find the asteroids.”
In addition to attempting to identify and destroy the threat, NASA would release an official alert, first to the government of the country where the asteroid was expected to impact, and then to the entire world. The public would need to be informed about the threat, as would the United Nations.
According to previous reports, if an asteroid was years away, humanity would attempt to deflect it and keep it from hitting our planet. However, less than five years before impact, the asteroid would have to be detonated and destroyed rather than redirected.
NASA conducted the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2022, destroying an asteroid in deep space.
It was a way to put Dr. Fast’s theory to the test: how will we measure up against killer asteroids if the threat arrives?
The $324 million scientific experiment calculated the amount of momentum required to deflect an asteroid when hitting it head on.
DART collided with its target asteroid, Dimorphos, a minor planet moon of Didymos. Dimorphos posed no threat to Earth during the experiment, as it was approximately 11 million kilometers away when struck.
The experiment was a huge success, shortening Didymos’ orbit by 32 minutes instead of the planned 73 seconds.
