Follow
For a long time, experts have said that usually, people tend to worry about the wrong asteroids. Newspapers also like to publish bombastic titles regarding possibly hazardous asteroids that might end all life on Earth. When it created this category, NASA probably didn’t expect it to become so misleading. In fact, we should worry about the smaller asteroids, not the bigger ones. According to a new report which the US National Science and Technology Council released, there are plans to do something about this issue.
It all started back in 2005 when a congressional mandate said that NASA would try to track about 90% of all near-Earth objects bigger than 460 feet. It seems that we are only one third there for now. Moreover, the catalogue that NASA currently has might be full of mistakes. Apart from this, before tracking something, you must first document it. This is what the recent report is planning to do, mainly because that effort is behind schedule too. It’s not the big asteroids that we can track that pose a risk. In fact, it’s the smaller ones that escape tracking. We even have a clear example of that.
We should worry about smaller asteroids, not big ones
A while ago, a 60-foot-wide meteor called Chelyabinsk escaped detection and finally, exploded over Russia. It was not devastating, but it still injured a thousand people. Now, imagine this with a larger rock over an even more populated area. That would be catastrophic.
The idea that the report puts forward is for the United States to become more prepared in such cases. Improved capabilities when it comes to detecting such objects are mandatory. This means that technologically advanced computer and telescopes are also a necessity. Better-organized simulations might also play a big role in preventing such disasters, or their victims.
Image source: pixabay
