World-Wind_1.png' alt='Nasa World Wind Virtual Earth Plugin Download' title='Nasa World Wind Virtual Earth Plugin Download' />Why NASA Will Test its Asteroid Defense System This October. Sometimes, NASA gets to have a bit of funwith asteroids. This fall, the agency will have a grand ol time with one such object called 2. TC4, which will whizz past us at a comfortable distance of about 4,2. Since the asteroid is pretty smallonly about 3. NASAs Planetary Defense Coordination Office to test out its techniques. By no means does this mean NASA preparing for the end of the world, as some outlets are erroneously suggesting. NASA astronaut and biochemist Peggy Whitson will return to Earth as the planets new record holder for longest time cumulatively spent on space by an American or a. Google Earth for mobile enables you to explore the globe with a swipe of your finger. Fly through 3D cities like London, Tokyo and Rome. Dive in to view the world at. By no means does this mean NASA preparing for the end of the world, as some outlets are erroneously suggesting. As badly as we all would like an asteroid to hit us. Google Ocean shown at the Google Geo Developer Day 12th june 2006 Google Ocean Google Maps Google Earth as visualization tools for marine data. World-Wind-Video-On-Terrain_1.png' alt='Nasa World Wind Virtual Earth Plugin' title='Nasa World Wind Virtual Earth Plugin' />As badly as we all would like an asteroid to hit us squarely in the face, this sort of testing is actually pretty standard, and is just meant to be practice should a near earth object get a little too close for comfort. We run these little exercises every so often, Dr. Michael Kelley, an astronomer at NASAs Planetary Science Division, told Gizmodo. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Pc Game. Weve known that this one has been around, even though the orbit isnt as well defined as wed like. Theres no threat of it hitting Earth, but we want to know if our network and the connections weve made with other countries and observatories is going to work for us when we need it to. Intel Landesk Virus Project there. Later this fall, the asteroid will become more easily visible to NASA scientists looking for it. Kelley said astronomers will be able to see it from NASAs Infra. Red Telescope Facility in Hawaii. In October, well wait for the close flyby to use to use some of the telescopes that are instrumented the way we need them to characterize the object, Kelley explained. If we were concerned about it hitting the Earth, this is exactly what wed do Wed try to recover itthe best guess of where the asteroid will be and whenand as it got brighter and closer, wed be able to go to smaller and smaller telescopes. So were pretty much following the procedure of what wed do in a real world scenario. So for everyone who was hoping for NASA to pull a Michael Bay and nuke an asteroid were sorry. Maybe well have that option available in the future. But you know whats really punk rock BEING PREPARED.