NASA is concocting a faux asteroid to prepare for a hypothetical apocalyptic threat.
Researchers at NASA and FEMA recently announced plans to partner with NASA's Planetary Defense Coordinator Office, the European Space Agency's Space Situational Awareness-NEO Segment and the International Asteroid Warning Network to test-run the impact of extraterrestrial objects near Earth.
While it's highly unlikely for a UFO to come hurtling toward our planet, scientists do want to prepare for a possible asteroid, reports Gizmodo. Now, the agencies are developing a "realistic— but fictional " exercise that would help experts react in case of such a disaster.
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In the simulation, astronomers track the asteroid until they determine there is a 1 percent chance it will collide with the Earth — That's the threshold at which international organizations have agreed they'd need to spring into action. Afterward, scientists measure the "risk corridor," to narrow down the regions of the planet that are most likely to be hit.
"These exercises have really helped us in the planetary defense community to understand what our colleagues on the disaster management side need to know," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's Planetary Defense Officer. "This exercise will help us develop more effective communications with each other and with our governments."