---
title: "In NASA Simulation, Humankind Dismally Failed to Save Earth From Killer Asteroid"
description: "NASA has begun running simulations about how well we could handle an asteroid headed towards Earth — and the results are pretty jarring."
date: "2022-11-07"
modified: "2022-11-07"
authors:
  - name: "Noor Al-Sibai"
    job_title: "Senior Staff Writer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-simulations-asteroid"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "asteroids"
  - "NASA"
  - "planetary defense"
  - "the digest"
---

# In NASA Simulation, Humankind Dismally Failed to Save Earth From Killer Asteroid

![NASA has begun running simulations about how well we could handle an asteroid headed towards Earth — and the results are pretty jarring.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/nasa-simulations-asteroid.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Getty Images/Futurism\</em\>*

## Big Bad

NASA has apparently gotten into tabletop gaming, but the stakes are decidedly higher than an evening of "Dungeons & Dragons."

As [*Scientific American* reports](<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-asteroid-threat-practice-drill-shows-were-not-ready/>), NASA's most recent tabletop simulation — or Planetary Defense Tabletop Exercise, if you want to make it official — was its fourth. And the stark conclusion of the mixed virtual and in-person gathering, conducted along with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) campuses in Maryland and North Carolina? Humanity is woefully unprepared for the threat of a catastrophic asteroid impact.

"We designed it to fall right into the gap in our capabilities," Emma Rainey, a senior scientist at Hopkins' APL who was part of the creation of the simulation, told the magazine. "The participants could do nothing to prevent the impact."

## Space Rock

The simulation began with the discovery of an asteroid on a trajectory toward Earth, *SciAm* reports, and each subsequent meeting in the days-long exercise would hop ahead in the timeline of the crash course. Participants were given information about where the asteroid was headed, its size, and how likely an impact would be. The sim's final stages were just before and just after the asteroid's impact.

In a sense, we're better prepared for a looming asteroid impact than ever before. Last month, NASA [smashed a small spacecraft](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-asteroid-dart-twin-tails>) into a medium-sized space rock to test whether it could be nudged off course, with [promising results](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-asteroid-deflection-successful>).

But real people are challenging in ways more complex than astrophysics. As in the 2021 movie "Don't Look Up," participants in the simulation found that misinformation made the scenario worse. The "asteroid denier" and "fake news" crowds were particularly difficult aspect of the simulation for the participants to handle.

"Misinformation is not going away," Angela Stickle, an APL senior research scientist who also helped facilitate and create the simulation, told *SciAm*. "We put it into the simulation because we wanted feedback on how to counteract it and take action if it was malicious."

**More on planetary defense:** [*NASA Slams Spacecraft Into Asteroid to Test Earth Saving Tech*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-slams-spacecraft-slams-into-asteroid-to-test-earth-saving-tech>)

## Author
At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/noorfromfuturism.bsky.social>)