NASA and Federal Emergency Management Agency joint plan
Asteroid impact is a natural disaster and it is one of the biggest threat to lives. To protect the earth from Asteroid impacts, NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is going to implement a new program that will protect the earth from near-earth objects (NEO’s).
NASA says, the program, “The National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan”. This space science program aims to organize and coordinate efforts related to the NEO within the federal government during the next 10 years.
Lindley Johnson, NASA’s planetary defense officer, said, the nation already has significant scientific, technical and operational capabilities that are relevant to asteroid impact prevention.
Five goals for asteroid impact
There are five goals in the plan. FIRST GOAL, making upgrades to the asteroid detection and tracking capabilities of the United States.
SECOND GOAL, improvements to the systems used to anticipate the odds that an asteroid will hit the Earth. The THIRD GOAL errands NASA with thinking of new techniques for deflecting approaching asteroids.
The FOURTH GOAL focuses on international cooperation to prepare for an asteroid crash, under the leadership of the United States. Lastly, the FIFTH GOAL is the preparation of a plan that will happen if an asteroid discovered to be on an impact with Earth.
Johnson said, there are vulnerabilities in the space agency’s networks, particularly in detecting smaller objects. A recent example is the asteroid that crashed into the Earth’s atmosphere over Botswana on June 2, as it was detected just hours before impact.
NASA said, these five goals will increase the nation’s preparedness for addressing the NEO risk and moderating if any threat. In 1990’s, NASA started hazard mitigation efforts with a project, Spaceguard, to begin to search for them.
In past NEO-tracking surveys, astronomers mostly found large NEOs and less able to locate small NEOs.
