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NASA's Global Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) may soon receive triple funding to better protect the Earth from space threats.
The White House has proposed increasing the OFSP budget from 48.89 million pounds ($ 60 million) to 114.74 million pounds ($ 150 million).
Johnson, who heads NASA's global defense division, said about 74.9 million pounds ($ 98 million) of the new budget would boost NASA's double asteroid referral test.
The double asteroid redirection test will study NASA's ability to change the trajectory of an asteroid in space.
NASA aims to make the first test of this type on a double asteroid system, as early as October 2022.
Johnson told Politico: "We are going to show the ability of a kinetic impactor to change the orbit of this moon around the primary asteroid."
The plan is to push an asteroid on Earth with great force to shift it.
Even the slightest correction of the path could allow the asteroid to avoid the Earth in a large rest area for long periods.
But would it not be easier for NASA to hit space debris with powerful nuclear missiles?
According to Johnson, the Hollywood script from Armageddon could do more harm than good.
He said, "Make it explode to pieces and then you have a bunch of comrades pointed at you.
"You have not changed direction. You have just broken it up into pieces, some of which can be processed by the Earth's atmosphere but perhaps not at all. "
But the space expert said that the explosion of a nuclear charge hundreds of meters from the surface of the asteroid could deflect it.
He said: "The most efficient technique, in our opinion, would be to detonate a nuclear device several hundred meters from the surface of the asteroid.
"Nuclear radiation causes excessive heating of the surface of the asteroid and exerts a force on the asteroid in the opposite direction."
Another potentially viable option is the use of gravity tractors to change the trajectory of an asteroid.
Gravity tractors would be simple spacecraft designed to have enough mass to attract asteroids gravitationally.
These deep space satellites would not work on larger asteroids measuring miles in diameter but could be useful for redirecting smaller threats.
Mr. Johnson explained, "The principle is that you place a spaceship next to an asteroid and the mutual. gravity The attraction between the spacecraft and the asteroid will slowly pull this asteroid off its impact trajectory.
"If it's a big asteroid, the relative mass of the asteroid at the spacecraft is an important factor here.
"If it's a very big asteroid of one kilometer, it will not have much effect." But the most common impactors will be those measuring 100 meters or less. "
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