Space debris has long been speculated to be the cause of the end of the world. As such, measures in preventing this catastrophe have been drafted, implemented, and continuously improved upon by various government agencies. NASA has been one of those sectors that are relied on by the public for years to safeguard Earth from oncoming threats.
A new tool that the agency added to their arsenal is a computer program called Scout. This tool is currently being developed and tested at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California. During these tests Scout recently spotted an asteroid that will come dangerously close to Earth.
Scout Program To Identify Threat That Could Mean The End Of The World
Confirmation of direct hit has been shut down by astronomers and said that it will pass the planet tonight approximately 310,000 miles away. The program played a key role in spotting the space debris and confirming if further actions need to be drafted. So how does Scout work, exactly?
Well, the program is designed to constantly scan data from telescopes to see if there are any information regarding what is called as Near Earth Objects, meteors and asteroids that orbits close to the planet. NASA pays various telescopes for this information so that it can feed it on Scout. The program, in turn, makes rapid calculations if it receives significant data then sends out a command to other telescopes to keep track of the particular object and see if there the risk reaches an end of the world degree.
"The NASA surveys are finding something like at least five asteroids every night," JPL astronomer Paul Chodas said. The space debris that will pass as tonight was discovered on October 25-26 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System. Chodas said that confirmation of impact is crucial information as data regarding how far away the object is difficult to pinpoint.
Scout And Sentry Working Hand In Hand To Spot Life-Threatening Space Debris
He added that when an object is spotted it would pass Earth only days after it was discovered, sometimes just hours. So the number of telescopes monitoring the debris is imperative to collect more data on it such as size and which path it's treading. The Scout program deals with very small, very near objects, NPR reported.
The task of identifying objects that threaten to annihilate a major city falls on Sentry, a system that complements Scout. Sentry is already in full operation, while Scout is still in its testing phase and would go live later this year. So what happens if a monstrous asteroid is identified by these systems?
B16 CEO and astronomer Ed Lu said that humanity can act against such threat given that information on it is received years before impact, some 10 to 30 years, Mobi Picker reported. Upon confirmation, plans on "nudging" the rock out of Earth's path should be underway. Missions like that are already being developed by NASA and the European Space Agency so that maneuvers can be practice as soon as possible to prevent a devastation that could mean the end of the world.
