One of NASA’s space security experts describes how the agency prepares to avoid a catastrophic tragedy.
Our home planet is situated in a hazardous environment. Asteroids and comets are among the celestial bodies that are continually racing through space and colliding with our home planet. The majority of them are too little to represent a problem, but a few of them are significant enough to warrant attention.
Asteroids and comets pose a serious hazard
The Sun is orbited by countless objects of varying sizes. Asteroids and meteors are examples of near-Earth objects since their orbits will put them around 120 million miles of the Sun in the future. One must first understand the nature of the near-Earth objects that exist in the universe. To yet, NASA has only monitored an estimated 40 percent of the larger ones, according to estimates. Unexpected asteroids have reached Earth in the past, and they will definitely continue to do so in the near future. What level of preparedness will mankind have when they do appear?
What could be done in this situation?
Rapid detection is essential in order to defend the world from cosmic threats. Scientists at the 2021 Planetary Defense Conference proposed that a minimum of five to ten years be allocated to preparation in order to deploy an effective defense against potentially harmful asteroids.
If astronomers discover a potentially hazardous item, they may take one of four steps to prevent a calamity. The first entails the implementation of regional first-aid and evacuating procedures. A second option would include deploying a spacecraft to come near a tiny or medium-sized asteroid, where the gravity of the spacecraft would gradually alter the object’s orbital parameters. We can either smash something with a larger asteroid at high velocities or explode a nuclear bomb nearby to alter the trajectory of a larger asteroid.
