If there were an inbound ‘doomsday’ asteroid or comet on it’s way, do you think NASA would alert the media? I think they would alert government officials but media and citizens would likely only hear it through the grapevine, I believe they would not alert the public directly as to avoid panic.
via Sputniknews:
The astronomer noted that despite what conspiracy theorists think, scientists won’t be able to sit idle and hide the truth when they already know that the Earth is doomed.
Michelle Thaller, the assistant director of science communication at NASA, revealed one of the most reliable signs that the apocalypse is coming to the website Big Think. According to her, on the “day all the scientists max out their credit cards and disappear” people should start worrying. She explained that the scientific community consists of ordinary humans who will not just be sitting at work with the knowledge that “the world is going to end in a week”.
Thaller added that NASA is not the only one watching the sky and looking out for potential threats, and because astronomers around the world are doing the same, it would be next to impossible to conceal the truth about an impending catastrophe. She assured that in the event of even a slight possibility of a “bad collision” between the Earth and an asteroid, NASA would inform not only the authorities, but also the media.
The scientist noted that NASA is currently working on methods to not just inform of possible threats, but also to avert them. The astronomer explained that it’s possible to alter the trajectory of space objects and force them to miss the planet and avoid a deadly impact.
Last year, NASA presented its “National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan”, which is aimed at finding, tracking and averting potentially dangerous objects that could hit the Earth and result in massive destruction. There are currently around 25,000 asteroids in the solar system that are big enough to do massive damage to our planet.
Spuntiknews
