A trial of how government, NASA and local officials would deal with a space rock headed toward Earth revealed gaps in the plans
On August 16, 2022 an approximately 70-meter asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere. At 2:02:10 P.M. EDT, the space rock exploded eight miles over Winston-Salem, N.C., with the energy of 10 megatons of TNT. The airburst virtually leveled the city and surrounding area. Casualties were in the thousands.
Several key differences set this practice apart from previous ones in 2013, 2014 and 2016: First, this trial gave NASA’s Planetary Defense Office a chance to stress-test the National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan, released by the White House in 2018.
That option, however, leans toward Hollywood, not reality. “There’s this tendency to think, ‘I saw this in a movie—they just launched ICBMs and blew it up,’” Johnson says. “The point of including this option in the simulation is to get them to understand that it’s not as simple. Using a nuclear explosive device in the terminal phase of an impact is a situation we don’t ever want to get ourselves into.
Johnson explained that his office is attempting to play the long game against misinformation. “We want to establish NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office and those that work with us as the authorities when it comes to these situations,” Johnson says. “The plan is that the media and public understand that a group at NASA tracks and manages these types of things.”
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