This week, as scientists work through an exercise simulating an imminent asteroid impact with Earth, NASA's administrator Jim Bridenstine warned the real-world threat should be taken seriously. From a report: Bridenstine acknowledged "the giggle factor," the dismissive response the topic has been met with in the past, at the start of his keynote remarks Monday at the International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference in College Park, Maryland. "We have to make sure that people understand that this is not about Hollywood, it's not about movies," he said. "This is about ultimately protecting the only planet we know, right now, to host life and that is the planet Earth." As part of the conference activities, space agencies will also be live-tweeting a fictional exercise simulating what it might be like if such an asteroid were discovered on a collision course with our planet.
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