NASA Preps for Asteroid Impact: ‘It’s going to happen’


If you were to ask somebody who studies space and things that come from space for a living, what would happen if a large asteroid hit Earth, and his response was “pray” it probably wouldn’t be very comforting. When posed with the question, Thomas Zurbuchen, the Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington not only said that, he also said that it’s not exactly a what-if scenario, but it’s a matter of when.

But don’t fret! There’s good news.

While an asteroid impact on New York could be devastating, it would seem that an asteroid impact in Los Angeles would be less devastating. Thanks to a simulation, which took place in El Segundo, CA, on October 25 they were able to figure out exactly how long emergency rescuers would have to evacuate a city. The emergency planners based their scenario on an object they tracked through space with an impact probability of 65%. However, there was a period of four months where they couldn’t track the object, making their findings shaky at best.

Find out what FEMA had to say on the next page.

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