An international team of space researchers recently came together to test what might happen if Earth were threatened by a large asteroid impact. Results from last year’s planetary defense exercise, just released, show the steps that would need to be taken if a planet-destroying asteroid were heading our way.
To simulate the threat, participants looked at the asteroid Apophis. This real 1,100-foot-long asteroid will come close to Earth in 2029 and 2068, but will not actually hit the planet. But for the exercise, participants mapped out what could have happened if it had threatened Earth during its recent approach between December 2020 and March 2021.
“This real-world scientific input has stress-tested the entire planetary defense response chain, from initial detection, to determining its orbit, to measuring the physical properties of the asteroid and even determining if and where it might strike Earth said Vishnu Reddy, associate professor at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson, in a expression.
The asteroid was tracked using NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission, which collected information about its size and shape. This is important for estimating how much damage would be done by an impact and has been used in simulations of possible impact locations on Earth. The idea is that this data could be sent to disaster management agencies to aid their efforts in the event of a real asteroid.
“It was impressive to see the planetary defense community coming together during Apophis’ recent approach,” said Michael Kelley, program scientist at PDCO in NASA’s Planetary Science Division. “Even during a pandemic, when many of the exercise participants were forced to work remotely, we were able to identify, track and learn more about a potential hazard with great efficiency. The exercise was a complete success.”
The results are published in The Planetary Science Journal.
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