Space, Asteroids, Science, United Nations, World news, Satellites
Aarti Holla-Maini of the UN’s Office for Outer Space Affairs is primed to spot a potential planetary strike – and a year ago, she thought the moment had come
The UN official had trained for this moment. She had run drills and table-top exercises at her offices in Vienna, housed inside a grey and unassuming 1970s concrete tower complex next to the Danube River.
Aarti Holla-Maini, a British lawyer with a background in the satellite business, needed to have at least played out the scenario step by step. As the director of the UN’s Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa), she was required to know exactly what she was expected to do if – and it was a big if – she were informed that a significantly large asteroid was on a possible collision course with Earth. Or, as she says with a laugh: “Armageddon.”
Continue reading… The Guardian
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