If scientists found out that a massive asteroid was on a collision course with Earth and would strike somewhere near Los Angeles by September 2020. What could humans do? Not much. That was the result of a day-long tabletop exercise planned by NASA and FEMA last month. The space agency concluded that the hypothetical 330-foot space rock was approaching too quickly to mount a deflection mission. This was purely fictional and the likelihood of this happening is very slim. But, plenty of researchers don't want to wait around and see what happens. This week, more than 100 planetary scientists, physicists and engineers published an open letter in support of a joint European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA mission to survey a near-Earth asteroid and attempt to deflect it. In early December, ESA's council of ministers will meet to decide on funding for the first half of the AIDA mission.
