Recalling the fate of the dinosaurs, the ever-present possibility of a catastrophic asteroid impact has caused a great deal of worry for many.
Such worries, along with advances in science and technology, have led to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration creating the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which runs the Asteroid Watch program.Lindley Johnson, NASA's Planetary Defense Officer and Lead Program Executive for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, spoke with the Washington Examiner to give insight into the historical program.
"Currently, on our near-Earth asteroid catalog, we have a little over 32,000; 32,300 or so, of all sizes," he said."Now, we're specifically tasked by Congress to find those that could be a significant impact threat; if they were to impact the Earth, do significant damage. And that threshold has kind of been established at 140 meters and larger, or the size of a football stadium ... and we are tracking 10,500 near earth asteroids that are at least 140 meters and larger in size.
The asteroid catalog is mostly complete; Johnson said he believes they have mapped out 96% to 97% of all asteroids that will pass by Earth larger than a kilometer in size. Most of the focus now is on finding smaller asteroids; he estimates that the PDCO currently has 40% to 45% of asteroids larger than 140 meters in diameter in the catalog.
NASA's DART will need some improvements if Earth wants to become truly invulnerable; the asteroid that created the Chixulub crater in Mexico, which wiped out the dinosaurs, was estimated to be around 6 miles across; far too big to be redirected by NASA's current capabilities . But, as Johnson assured the Washington Examiner, the agency will have decades to advance such technology before that even becomes a possibility.
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