A Planetary Defense Coordination Office was created and well-funded by NASA with the purpose to deal with the danger of an asteroid collision with Earth. The new American Space Agency's initiative is driven by the will of developing an American strategy for space as well as growing concern about near-Earth objects.
The goal of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office is to ensure that NASA will be ready in case that an asteroid comes too close to Earth. According to CNN, the new program is designed to coordinate NASA's response in case that any space objects represents a danger for the planet.
These preparations for a potential asteroid collision in Armageddon-style will require scientists to discover and monitor comets, asteroids and space junk that could threaten our planet.
According to NASA, this will be a costly operation. NASA's budget had kept increasing over the past few years. It was just $4 million in 2010, but it doubled to $40 million in 2014. For the year 2016, NASA will receive $50 million in order to create the new Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
According to NASA's former statements, the Space Agency does not believe that an asteroid collision will happen in the near future. Scientists consider that collision course concerns are not likely to happen but are just a matter of scale, according to The Christian Science Monitor.
However, the so-called Near Earth Objects are starting to become a growing concern for scientists who are spotting them in increasing numbers. The planetary defense system comes in this context to provide NASA with a ready answer for the next report of asteroids flying too close to Earth.
Even if no impact threats are known this time, the recent "Halloween Asteroid" and the 2013 Chelyabinsk super-fireball remind scientists of the reasons why they need to remain vigilant, according to the administrator for Washington-based NASA Science Mission Directorate, John Grunsfeld.
