NASA and FEMA plan a possible asteroid armageddon – TechCrunch



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When it comes to planning a possible asteroid attack on planet Earth, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency do not want to miss anything.

Alongside international partners such as the Space Situational Awareness Segment of the European Space Agency and the International Asteroid Alert Network (IAWN), the NASA network The Global Defense Coordination Office will participate in a "tabletop exercise" simulating a scenario describing how to react to an asteroid on a trajectory of impact with Earth (we do not know if Billy Bob Thornton, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck or Liv Tyler will participate)).

NASA and its partners are in fact looking for potentially calamitous objects close to the Earth (asteroids, comets or unidentified objects located less than 30 million kilometers from the Earth) for more than 20 years.

Tabletop exercise is a simulation used in disaster management planning to inform organizations likely to contribute to the mobilization and response of important aspects of a potential disaster and to identify ways to react.

Participants in the "Armageddon" exercise (not its official name) will use a scenario developed by the NEO (CNEOS) research center at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"These exercises have really helped us in the global defense community to understand what our disaster management colleagues need to know," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's global defense officer, in a statement. "This exercise will help us develop more effective communications with each other and with our governments."

The government actually needs simulations like this one because of the national strategy and action plan for near-Earth objects.

The scenario with which these organizations will confront involves the fictitious identification of NEO identified on March 26, and that astronomers consider potentially dangerous for the Earth. Scientists believe that the asteroid could represent a one in 100 chance of reaching the Earth in 2027 (the chance on 100 is actually the real threshold for initiating plans to react to an asteroid strike by the global community).

From there, simulation participants will discuss possible preparations for reconnaissance and deviation missions, as well as planning to mitigate the potential impact of a strike.

"NASA and FEMA will continue to conduct periodic exercises with a growing community of US government agencies and international partners," Johnson said in a statement. "This is a great way for us to learn to work together and meet the needs of each and the goals set out in the White House. NEO National Action Plan. "

This is not the first time that NASA has joined a NEO impact exercise. Until now, NASA has performed six impact exercises: three international exercises in 2013, 2015 and 2017 and three others with FEMA (which also included representatives from the Department of Defense and the Department of Defense). 39; state).

"What emergency managers want to know, is when, where and how an asteroid would impact, as well as the type and extent of damage that could occur," said Leviticus Lewis of the division. Operations Operations of FEMA.

NASA did not specify whether it had put in place emergency plans for an "Independence Day" scenario.

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