The End of the World
Most people worry about their past due bills, their children, problems at work, and troubles in their relationships. With all of these things to worry about, we often don’t dwell on the end of the world. Most people don’t think much about the apocalypse, but there is one person who is. He is actually working on trying to prevent the end of the world. NASA is conducting ‘End of the World’ experiments that the public isn’t aware of.
Lindley Johnson
Lindley Johnson has made it his life’s mission to stop the end of the world. He isn’t some crazy doomsday prepper who is waiting for the zombie apocalypse or for a crazy strain of the bird flu to take us out. He is actually a brilliant man, doing very important work. Lindley is a 23-year veteran of the Air Force. In 2003, he joined NASA. He serves as NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer. He is focusing on the things in space that could kill us, rather than threats you will only see in the movies.
Asteroids
If an asteroid the size of several football fields were to hit Earth, it could be catastrophic. This is why Lindley and his team at NASA investigate hypothetical cases of giant asteroids hitting big cities, such as New York City. Even though thousands of years pass before something like this happens, Lindley wants to be prepared.
His Mission
Lindley’s mission is to be able to stop an asteroid from hitting the Earth before it can cause the end of the world. For years, he was working on a budget of $5 million. This may seem like a lot of money, but for the work that he needs to do, it isn’t much. Fortunately, in 2015, Congress was convinced that planetary defense is essential in keeping the planet safe. They increased his budget from $5 million to $50 million.
Results
Thanks to the increase in his budget, Lindley and his team have been able to assemble an arsenal of data and cutting-edge technology that can keep asteroids from destroying our planet. So far, NASA has cataloged over 2,000 asteroids in the solar system that are capable of destroying an entire continent. Because blowing up these massive rocks could create dangerous fallout, Lindley has come up with a few other tricks.
Kinetic Impactors
The most promising method that Lindley and his team came up with is to deflect the asteroids away from Earth. They have the ability to use unmanned
Landing On the Asteroid
If you have ever seen the movie, Armageddon, you know that the U.S. government hired Bruce Willis and his team, a group of oil drillers, the land on the asteroid and blow it up from the inside out. According to Lindley, this isn’t the best way to stop an asteroid from destroying the plant, but he hasn’t completely ruled it out. There are NASA astronauts who are training for complex asteroid landings with a simulator, but nobody has tried to actually do it yet. So far, this method is just being considered to collect rock samples, but if necessary, it is an option in case of an emergency, but it isn’t the best option.
Amping Up Security
Thanks to his increased budget, Lindley and his team has come up with a few different fixes if something like this were to happen. Thanks to the installation of orbital telescopes, he is able to monitor any life-threatening rock in the solar system. This is essential in saving the planet. It will take more than a few days to take action, and these telescopes can give much more notice than just a few days.
The International Asteroid Warning Network
Fortunately, Lindley, NASA, and the United States aren’t on their own in this endeavor. Governments around the world are doing exactly the same thing so that we can be sure that our plant will survive no matter what the solar system throws at us. There are agencies all over the world keeping track of every asteroid in space, making sure that each of them won’t be the one to bring on the end of time.
Safety
Lindley is working hard to save the lives of everyone on the planet. Thanks to his research and hypothetical situations, an asteroid won’t destroy our planet. The next time you watch Deep Impact or Armageddon, don’t worry. We have plans in place to prevent the end of the world. When the time comes for Lindley to retire, there are plenty of other people in line to take his place and continue the research necessary to prevent the apocalypse.
