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When the Chicxulub impactor, a six-mile-wide asteroid, struck Earth 66 million years ago, the dinosaurs had no warning.
If an asteroid that size hit Earth today, a shock wave two million times more powerful than a hydrogen bomb would flatten forests and trigger tsunamis. A seismic pulse equal to a magnitude 10 earthquake would crumble cities. And long after the impact, a cloud of hot dust, ash, and steam would blot out the sun, plunging the Earth into freezing cold.
But at least we'd probably know it was coming ahead of time. And if NASA has anything to say about it, we may even be able to prevent the apocalypse.
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office is tasked with finding, tracking, and assessing the risk associated with potentially hazardous asteroids in our solar system.
“We definitely want to find all those before they find us,” said Lindley Johnson, Lead Program Executive for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
To do that, NASA works with a global coalition of astronomers called the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN).
Here’s what they would do if an apocalyptic asteroid strike was headed toward Earth.
www.businessinsider.com
If an asteroid that size hit Earth today, a shock wave two million times more powerful than a hydrogen bomb would flatten forests and trigger tsunamis. A seismic pulse equal to a magnitude 10 earthquake would crumble cities. And long after the impact, a cloud of hot dust, ash, and steam would blot out the sun, plunging the Earth into freezing cold.
But at least we'd probably know it was coming ahead of time. And if NASA has anything to say about it, we may even be able to prevent the apocalypse.
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office is tasked with finding, tracking, and assessing the risk associated with potentially hazardous asteroids in our solar system.
“We definitely want to find all those before they find us,” said Lindley Johnson, Lead Program Executive for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
To do that, NASA works with a global coalition of astronomers called the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN).
Here’s what they would do if an apocalyptic asteroid strike was headed toward Earth.
NASA explains how it would alert the public of an apocalyptic asteroid strike
In the event an asteroid is headed for Earth, here's how NASA plans to alert the public of an impending strike from one of these gigantic space rocks.
www.businessinsider.com
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