Sticks and Stones may break our planet but words will never hurt us - NASA and FEMA ramp up 2019PDC exercise

[rcmaehl]

Source:
CNet
ESA Operations

 

Summary:
NASA along with FEMA are investigating how observers, emergency management, and citizens might respond to an actual impact prediction

Media:

 

Quotes/Excerpts:

Quote

Asteroid 2019PDC now has a 1 in 100 chance of hitting Earth in 2027. Good thing it's fictional. The world's top asteroid experts are gathering...at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference...taking part in what sounds like an epic RPG: a hypothetical asteroid impact exercise that will test how Earth responds to the threat of a potentially devastating space rock. NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office developed the exercise along with the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. "The point is to investigate how NEO observers, space agency officials, emergency managers, decision makers, and citizens might respond to an actual impact prediction and evolving information," The ESA Operations Twitter account is now live-tweeting the entire scenario, from the discovery of the asteroid (named 2019PDC) to the increasingly grim odds it might hit Earth. The first tweet sounds innocuous...a mention of...news reports confirming the asteroid's discovery. The probability of an impact in 2027 ramps up and we discover the asteroid is 15 times bigger than the 2013 Chelyabinsk asteroid that exploded over Russia. The team is appending each tweet with the all-caps hashtag #FICTIONALEVENT so no one will freak out. It's still sobering to follow the events, which recently worsened from a 1 in 250 chance of impact to 1 in 100. ESA Operations will continue to update the plot in the coming week. Participants will receive daily briefings and must role-play the responses from astronomers, space agencies and governments. In reality, we know of no imminent threats from asteroids, but NASA is constantly tracking their movements through space. 

 

My Thoughts:

Following the ESA Operations twitter account has definitely been interesting. It's definitely akin to tuning in daily to a sci-fi thriller to see how everything is handled, albeit more science-y than dramatically. As neat as it would be I doubt that Starman and his Tesla roadster will be saving us from this threat.

[Froody129]

I don't get it? I can say that a nuclear war has broken out in a tweet, then at the end add that it's fake. No one will take it seriously, so I couldn't make a judgement on people's reaction to war based on their reaction to a tweet they know is fake. Or am I missing something obvious?

[Dissitesuxba11s]

So is this like a modern day War of the Worlds broadcast except everyone already knows it's fake?

[rcmaehl]

16 minutes ago, Froody129 said:

I don't get it? I can say that a nuclear war has broken out in a tweet, then at the end add that it's fake. No one will take it seriously, so I couldn't make a judgement on people's reaction to war based on their reaction to a tweet they know is fake. Or am I missing something obvious?

It's mainly for the attendees as they are the ones making reports and other decisions. Still fun to watch.

 

11 minutes ago, Dissitesuxba11s said:

So is this like a modern day War of the Worlds broadcast except everyone already knows it's fake?

Yes. Some people will still freak out though.

[Dissitesuxba11s]

3 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

Yes. Some people will still freak out though.

Oooh, I can't wait for the fallout of this excercise. Let's see how many people actually believe it.

[FezBoy]

Imo, they should have skipped all the "THIS ISN'T ACTUALLY HAPPENING" stuff and caused a global panic.  Now THAT would be fun to watch.

[mr moose]

As near as I can tell, the quickest way to get this information out and ensure that people don't panic would be to have either Trump or Musk tweet it. 

[DeScruff]

On 4/30/2019 at 3:12 PM, Dissitesuxba11s said:

So is this like a modern day War of the Worlds broadcast except everyone already knows it's fake?

Funny thing: If you look up the history of that 'incident', it starts to become clear that the panic was ether made up, or massively exaggerated by Newspapers in order to sell more papers, or to discredit Radio as a news source. ( Who was the biggest competitor to Newspapers at the time, much like the Internet is to them and TV today. )

[Dissitesuxba11s]

51 minutes ago, Sypran said:

-snip-

Didn't know that. At least this exercise is already disclosed as such so any exaggerations can easily be debunked if someone forgets to read that it's not real.

[Trik'Stari]

The fact that they want to see how we respond is.... mildly alarming.

 

And by mildly I mean extremely.

[Brooksie359]

On 4/30/2019 at 5:15 PM, mr moose said:

As near as I can tell, the quickest way to get this information out and ensure that people don't panic would be to have either Trump or Musk tweet it. 

It wouldn't be all that weird for the president to tweet about an event like this. It actually seems like it would be weird if they didn't in such an emergency. This is to say for a real event not a test.