The conspiracy theories, the scenarios of a planet revelation and the inevitable end of the world is intriguing more and more citizens.
Thousands of posts on the internet but endless written pages of books have been spent on the subject of the end of humanity as we know it. And of course we are not referring to the relevant REM song but to the day when, according to the fans of the end of the world, the planet and everything that lives on it will vanish.
The truth is that the signs and the "red flags" that something massive and extreme is not far away have been around for a long time. And even though our minds are busy with daily problems, bills and how to impress the coveted other half we do not stop thinking about what could have happened the day a huge wave swept, for example, entire cities and wiped them out. from the map.
But beyond the movies revelation the "real" Revelation is probably not a condition that will concern us directly. A group of scientists, however, have dedicated themselves to conducting experiments on the end of the world.
The team of scientists does not deal with zombies and impending destruction by a deadly virus. These brilliant minds specialize in simulating a catastrophe in New York City.
Most of us have connected NASA by observing and exploring space as well as missions to other planets. However, a team of scientists deals 365 days a year with the possibility of the end of the world.
Humanity knows very well how to harm itself and the place that hosts it, the planet Earth. Her specialized team NASA however he is not interested in the dangers that lurk inside the atmosphere but those that come from outside. Mainly in the form of huge rocks that can destroy the planet in seconds.
The US space agency is not joking at all when it comes to asteroids and meteorites. And he has assigned the job to the right person.
Lindley Johnson has been an Air Force veteran for 23 years. Since 2003 he has been a member of NASA and head of the Office of Planetary Defense. The main target of Johnson and his team are meteors. Those who eventually find their way to the surface of the Earth are tiny.
However, there are many cases where a meteorite the size of a stone has hit the Earth and the crater and the energy that was called was quite large. Great to create problems in nearby areas.
So few want to imagine if a meteorite the size of a building (say) collided with our planet. However, NASA wants to imagine as it sees that such a threat is not at all unlikely.
But what if a soccer-sized asteroid collides with Earth? Chances are it will fall into an ocean. But Lindley does not leave such a thing to chance.
That's why the team examines hypothetical scenarios for asteroid impact in a residential area. So it looks at how big the damage would be if it exploded, for example, in downtown Manhattan.
The experiments are continuous and in some cases the results are heartbreaking as they indicate that the collision is inevitable. For years, scientists have identified more than 2.000 asteroids in our solar system that are potential for catastrophic contact with Earth.
A major problem for the Office of Planetary Defense was the lack of financial resources to carry out the simulations and experiments.
That was solved in 2015 when Congress was convinced and increased funding for NASA by $ 5 million, raising the budget to $ 50 million a year. This increase freed the hands of Lindley, whose team acquired an arsenal of a complete database and state-of-the-art technology, which will help keep the asteroids away from the planet.
But how do they prepare to do so? NASA keeps a low profile on the nature of the experiments so as not to create a global hysteria, but the number of meteorites that may hit the Earth is not negligible. And it may disappoint movie lovers but it does not involve any asteroid bombing.
According to NASA, the most effective way to deal with such a threat is to get the asteroid out of orbit. And how will this happen; With the impact of an aircraft on him at such a speed that will put him off course.
Lindley does not think that landing a crew on the asteroid is a good solution, but NASA has not taken such a scenario off the table. Astronauts have been trained for complex landings on asteroids.
Informing the world authorities of an impending meteorite impact and having only a few 24 hours left will simply lead humanity to a fast and painful end.
The space service is therefore proceeding with the construction of state-of-the-art telescopes that monitor any threat posed by space rocks. And which will be able to detect any threat in a timely manner.
Preparing to go into orbit with the asteroid, however, is something that can take months or even years. That's why Lindley's team works closely with the Federal Disaster Management Agency so that they can have some scenarios ready to deal with such a deadly phenomenon.
In 2019, NASA hosted a conference with the European Space Agency and the International Asteroid Warning Agency. So there has been an international collaboration so that more eyes are on the sky.
Although the consequences of Lindley's work can be devastating, he says he "sleeps peacefully at night." And this is because he believes that humanity is the best it can be, prepared for the possibility of a major collision.