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JPL to Lead Large-Scale Asteroid Impact Response Drill

Published on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 | 12:13 pm
 
Earth, as pictured from the International Space Station as Expedition 59 orbited above Canada in an undated photo provided by NASA.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will lead a multi-agency practice drill next week to examine how authorities might respond to the discovery of an asteroid headed for an impact with Earth.

The hypothetical scenario will be spearheaded by JPL’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, or CNEOS, during next week’s 7th IAA Planetary Defense Conference, JPL announced in a written statement.

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office will also take part in the simulation, “allowing NASA’s PDCO and other U.S. agencies and space science institutions, along with international space agencies and partners, to use the fictitious scenario to investigate how near-Earth object observers, space agency officials, emergency managers, decision-makers and citizens might respond and work together to an actual impact prediction and simulate the evolving information that becomes available in the event an asteroid impact threat is discovered,” according to the statement.

The drill begins Monday when scientists will announce to their colleagues they have “discovered” a potentially hazardous asteroid.

“Details about the imaginary asteroid’s threat to our planet will evolve over the days of the conference, and exercise participants will discuss potential preparations for asteroid reconnaissance and deflection missions and planning for mitigation of a potential impact’s effects,” the statement said.

In reality, the international community has agreed that a 1 in 100 chance of an impact with a near-Earth object would trigger response actions, officials said.

“Tabletop simulations” like the one planned next week help scientists better prepare for a potential disaster, said CNEOS Director Paul Chodas.

“Hypothetical asteroid impact exercises provide opportunities for us to think about how we would respond in the event that a sizable asteroid is found to have a significant chance of impacting our planet,” Chodas said. “Details of the scenario – such as the probability of the asteroid impact, where and when the impact might occur – are released to participants in a series of steps over the days of the conference to simulate how a real situation might evolve.”

NASA has taken part in seven prior impact scenario simulations, which NASA Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson said may one day have real-world implications.

“Each time we participate in an exercise of this nature we learn more about who the key players are in a disaster event, and who needs to know what information, and when,” Johnson said. “These exercises ultimately help the planetary defense community communicate with each other and with our governments to ensure we are all coordinated should a potential impact threat be identified in the future.”

The exercise precedes the expected launch of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test Mission, or DART, later this year.

The spacecraft will reach asteroid Dimorphos in the fall of 2022 and smash into it in an attempt to “change its orbit in space, which could be a key technique for mitigating a potentially hazardous asteroid that is on a collision path with Earth, should one be discovered in the future,” according to the JPL statement.

More information on the Planetary Defense Conference Exercise can be found online at cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/pd/cs/pdc21.

More information on NASA’s planned DART mission can be found at nasa.gov/planetarydefense/dart.

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