NASA will simulate an asteroid impact scenario with a live tweet

If ever an asteroid were to sink towards Earth, what would be the plan to prevent it from having an impact on the planet?

This is the question that NASA and its partners, including the European Space Agency and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) of the United States, are meeting at the 2019 Global Defense Conference at the beginning of the month of May to investigate.

During this five-day conference, NASA and its partners plan to embark on a "simulation exercise" simulating what would happen if scientists and authorities learned of the existence of a screenplay scenario. 39, object impact close to the Earth.

"A simulation exercise of a simulated emergency situation commonly used in disaster management planning to inform relevant stakeholders of the important aspects of a possible disaster and to identify the elements for conducting to an intervention, "said NASA.

In the exercise (described here by ESA), NASA and its partners must react to a "realistic – but fictitious" scenario involving an NEO named "2019 PDC", which has a 1 in 100 chance To have an impact on the Earth in 2027.

Armed with all the hypothetical information about the "2019 PDC", the exercise aims to see how the various agencies and governments would handle the situation as it unfolds.

"The first step in protecting our planet is to know what is happening," said Rüdiger Jehn, ESA Global Defense Officer. "Only in this way, with enough warning, can we take the necessary measures to prevent asteroid strikes or to minimize damage to the ground."

In such a situation, ESA stated that it would broadcast information on the tweet "so that you can know the" news "as the experts do." And for the hypothetical exercise on PDC 2019 asteroids at the conference, the agency live tweet the series of actions decided as if they were done.

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

Although NASA has already participated in six NEO impact exercises, each scenario is different and the agency says that it is clear that attention is not always focused on the details of the asteroid, even if that remains essential to create a plan to deflect or reduce its impact.

"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.

Well, you know what they say … It's better to be prepared. At the very least, NASA and its friends will not panic as hard if an asteroid had to really hit the Earth.