NASA: 72% Chance That An Asteroid May Hit Earth On This Exact Day
BY: Kavya Bhatt
In a hypothetical exercise, the US space agency NASA discovered that a potentially harmful asteroid has a 72% chance of colliding with Earth, and we may be unprepared to prevent it.
According to an official NASA release, the fifth yearly Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise was held in April. On June 20, NASA released a synopsis of the exercise, which was held at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.
Aside from NASA, the tabletop exercise drew approximately 100 individuals from several US government departments and international partners.
While there are no known large asteroid threats in the near future, this was done to examine the Earth's ability to respond successfully in the event of a potentially harmful asteroid.
NASA noted that the hypothetical exercise provided useful insights into the dangers, reaction choices, and collaboration opportunities presented by various scenarios.
Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer emeritus at NASA Headquarters in Washington, stated, "The uncertainties in these initial conditions for the exercise allowed participants to consider a particularly challenging set of circumstances."
A massive asteroid impact may be the only natural disaster that civilization can forecast and avoid years in advance."
The Tabletop report stated, "During the exercise, participants considered potential national and global responses to a hypothetical scenario in which a never-before-detected asteroid was identified that had, according to initial calculations, a 72% chance of hitting Earth in approximately 14 years."