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The highest ranking member of NASA warned his fellow citizens that the threat of giant meteors striking the planet is real and should not be flouted.
What are the details?
Jim Bridenstine, director of NASA, said Monday that his agency is committed to raising public awareness of the dangers posed by meteors striking the Earth, especially because many people laugh at this possibility,
Business Insider reported.
"The reason it's important for NASA to take this seriously is what you call the" laughter factor, "explained Bridenstine." We need to make sure people understand that it's not about About Hollywood. This is not about movies. It is ultimately about protecting the only planet we currently know to harbor life, that is the planet Earth. "
Bridenstine pointed to the meteor that caused major damage in Russia six years ago. He sent 1,500 people to the hospital to treat injuries.
"When he finally exploded more than 30 km from the surface, he said, he had … 30 times the energy of the atomic bomb of Hiroshima."
Although Bridenstine addresses a room full of scientists from around the world, he told them that his warning was not meant for them, because they "knew it already", but to the public who followed his speech on Facebook and Twitter.
"We know for a fact that dinosaurs did not have a space program, we know it's true, but we do it," he continued, "and we have to use it."
According to Bridenstine, NASA is currently working on guidelines for a 2018 White House action plan asking the space agency to detect, track and characterize 90% of Earth's threatening celestial objects. A diameter equal to or greater than 460 feet. A meteor of this size could "destroy a state of the United States of America" or "destroy a whole European country," he explained.
The head of NASA also asked for help.
"We are only about a third of the way," said Bridenstine. "We want more international partners who can join us in this effort, we want more systems on the face of the Earth that can detect and track these objects."
Nothing else?
Although this idea recalls Bruce Willis's film plot, "Armageddon," NASA is also taking steps to find a way to stop giant asteroids before they touch the planet. NBC News announced that Elon Musk's SpaceX had won a $ 69 million contract for a mission that "will test the Earth's ability to deflect an asteroid by hitting a spacecraft at high speed."
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