00:00A huge asteroid of several tens of meters in diameter rushes towards Earth through the immense darkness of the cosmos.
00:07Get ready for some terrible news.
00:10There is a 72% chance that it will hit Earth in 14 years,
00:13with potential impact zones in North America, South Europe and North Africa,
00:19some of the most densely populated regions on the planet.
00:22Astronomers closely monitoring this space invader for some time,
00:26but it has now gotten too close to the sun and it will be impossible to follow it over the next 7 months.
00:32Of course, there is a 28% chance that it will completely miss our planet,
00:36but what will happen if it hits the Mille?
00:38A devastation and a world destruction.
00:41This is what awaits us.
00:42Thousands of lives lost, billions and billions of dollars in damage,
00:46entire species scratched from the surface of the earth,
00:49cities and villages in ruins, fields and forests destroyed.
00:52Is this the future that awaits us?
00:55You can rest assured.
00:57This is just a hypothetical scenario created by NASA to prepare for such a situation.
01:02The Space Agency has been thinking about this type of disaster for years.
01:06Even cooler, it organizes asteroid impact simulation exercises every two years
01:11to put scientists, government agencies and international experts on the same wavelength.
01:17The last one took place in April and brought together about a hundred people.
01:21During these asteroid exercises, the experts act as if a giant space rock was heading towards us.
01:28They then think about all the thorny questions they may ask themselves,
01:32such as what is its size?
01:34Where could it hit?
01:35What should we do?
01:36It's like a huge brainstorming session to make sure that if it were to happen,
01:40we wouldn't have to start from scratch.
01:42To make these scenarios as realistic as possible,
01:45we mobilize the NASA Geocruiser Research Center.
01:49They are the ones who follow real asteroids and calculate their orbits.
01:53They simulate months of asteroid observation,
01:56with uncertainties about their size,
01:58their trajectory and their potential impact zones.
02:01This type of uncertainty makes decision-making much more difficult
02:05and plunges them into a simulation as close to reality as possible.
02:09If an asteroid were really heading towards Earth,
02:12it would not only be the problem of one country, but of all.
02:16This is why this exercise calls for international experts.
02:19In April, they met for the first time.
02:22They worked alongside American agencies such as the Planetary Defense Coordination Office of NASA
02:28and FEMA to determine how the world could react to such a crisis.
02:32Because the impact of an asteroid would have disastrous consequences on a global scale.
02:36The big question is this.
02:38Can we really prevent an asteroid from hitting Earth?
02:42The experts consider two main options.
02:44First, we could send a spacecraft to collect more information.
02:49If we knew more about the size, mass and orbit of the asteroid,
02:53we would be able to make better decisions about the next step.
02:56The second option is to try to deflect the asteroid.
03:00Basically, it is about deflecting the threatening object from its trajectory so that it misses Earth.
03:04This may seem impossible, but the NASA DARP mission has already proven that it is feasible.
03:09Two years ago, they sent a spacecraft to hit a small asteroid called Dimorphos.
03:15And they managed to modify its orbit.
03:17It was a great victory for the planetary defense.
03:20But missions like this take a lot of time to plan, prepare and perform well.
03:25This is why it is so important to spot dangerous asteroids as soon as possible.
03:30Currently, NASA is working on a new telescope called NeoSurveyor,
03:35whose launch is scheduled for 2027.
03:37Unlike the good old telescope,
03:39NeoSurveyor is designed to detect asteroids in the most difficult conditions,
03:44including those orbiting near the sun.
03:47It will give us a better chance to act early,
03:49and potentially stop an asteroid before it becomes a threat.
03:53If you still think that an asteroid impact is something that is science fiction
03:57and that the threat is not real,
03:59what do you think about this?
04:01Early on Sunday, January 21,
04:02a small asteroid about 1 meter wide entered the Earth's atmosphere
04:06and, fortunately, disintegrated above Germany.
04:10NASA's impact system spotted it 95 minutes before it hit the Earth,
04:15and predicted exactly when and where it would arrive.
04:19At 1h32, local time,
04:21the 2024 BX-1 asteroid turned into an incandescent fireball visible up to the Czech Republic.
04:29Some small meteorites may have landed near the impact site,
04:33about 60 km west of Berlin.
04:36It is only the eighth time that an asteroid has been detected before hitting the Earth.
04:41It is a remarkable example of how tools such as scoots help us track asteroids
04:47and prepare us for anything that could be bigger.
04:50Another example.
04:51On December 4, a small asteroid offered a dazzling light show
04:56in the northeastern sky of Siberia before disintegrating without danger in the Earth's atmosphere.
05:01The space rock, about 71 cm in diameter,
05:05was spotted a few hours before hitting the Earth.
05:08Thanks to the observations of astronomers from around the world,
05:11a special alert system managed to predict the impact more or less 10 seconds in advance.
05:16The asteroid entered the Earth's atmosphere at 1h15, local time.
05:20Authorities were alerted, but no damage was reported.
05:24The NASA Atlas system spotted the rock 12 hours before it entered the atmosphere.
05:29This is the fourth imminent impactor,
05:32that is to say an asteroid discovered in the hours preceding its planned impact,
05:36detected this year, and the eleventh in total.
05:39Today, China also has major projects in the field of planetary defense.
05:44It is working on its first mission to hit an asteroid,
05:48and it has a double goal.
05:51One spacecraft will crash on the asteroid,
05:54and the other will stay behind to study the situation for a maximum of one year.
05:59In other words, it is not only about protecting the Earth,
06:02but also about learning more about the solar system.
06:05The target is the asteroid 2015 XF-261,
06:09a really long name, which is also about 30 meters wide.
06:14It recently passed near the Earth, on July 9,
06:1750 million kilometers from us.
06:20It's true, it's still quite far.
06:22But this space traveler was going at a speed of 42,000 kmh,
06:27that is 30 times the speed of sound.
06:29China will send a space probe to study the asteroid.
06:32They hope to learn more about its structure and composition,
06:35which could help us in future planetary defense missions.
06:39Then, they plan to hit the asteroid with another spacecraft to test the impact,
06:44and the first space probe will stay in place to observe the remains for a year.
06:48Timing is essential for this type of mission.
06:50This asteroid offers us good study opportunities for the years to come.
06:54Thus, in March and May 2027, it will pass less than 32 million kilometers from the Earth.
07:00In April 2028, it will get even closer, to 21 million kilometers.
07:05A year later, in April 2029, the asteroid will pass only 6.7 million kilometers,
07:12which will make it a target for such a mission.
07:15Another good opportunity will occur in April 2030,
07:18when the asteroid will pass 7 million kilometers from our planet.
07:21To give you a little context, NASA's DART mission used to target an asteroid
07:26located at 11 million kilometers, and the trip lasted 10 months.
07:30The leaders of the Chinese project must therefore choose the right time,
07:33depending on the time their spacecraft will need to make the trip.
07:37The mission should begin by 2027, but this will not be China's first attempt.
07:42In 2023, they planned a planetary defense test with a different asteroid,
07:47which also measures about 30 meters wide.
07:50We do not know exactly why they decided to focus on another object,
07:54probably because the timing is more favorable.
07:57Most asteroids are actually time capsules dating back 4.6 billion years,
08:02remains of the time when the solar system was being formed.
08:05Their study could teach us a lot about the formation of planets, including the Earth.
08:10China is therefore tackling a project that combines planetary defense and pure space science.
08:15It is certainly taking great steps in the field of cosmic exploration.
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