NASA simulates asteroid heading toward Earth in defense exercise

(NewsNation) — NASA’s preventative doomsday approach reached new heights with a test simulating a hypothetical asteroid set to hit Earth in 2038, according to a report released this week.

The simulation was the fifth installment of the Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise, wherein NASA, the U.S. government and international representatives attempted to plan for an asteroid that had a 72% chance of hitting Earth in 14 years’ time.

“The uncertainties in these initial conditions for the exercise allowed participants to consider a particularly challenging set of circumstances,” Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer emeritus at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a news release.

“A large asteroid impact is potentially the only natural disaster humanity has the technology to predict years in advance and take action to prevent.”

Within the exercise, asteroid sizes ranged from 60 to 800 meters, with the most likely result between 100 and 320 meters.

Several strategies were raised to combat the threat, with senior figures favoring a U.S. government-led approach with international assistance and a potential fly-by rendezvous effort over waiting until November for sightings with a telescope.

“These outcomes will help to shape future exercises and studies to ensure NASA and other government agencies continue improving planetary defense preparedness,” Johnson said.

The exercise aimed at increasing readiness for the potential threat of an asteroid and was a vehicle for discussion between agencies and potential international partners.

It was the first planetary defense event undertaken since the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, in which a spacecraft changed an asteroid’s orbit in 2022.