The fragile nature of Near Earth Objects – studying how a single impactor can become a multi-threat to Earth

You think that asteroid impacts on Earth are only seen in movies? This is not true! The risk is real, and that explains why Dr. David Polishook is working on the assessment of this threat coming from above. Recent observations have shown that asteroids approaching our planet are not made of one big rock but rather of a collection of small-sized rocks. This raises new questions about the potential consequences of asteroid impacts. To learn more about the shattered nature of asteroids, Dr. Polishook will carefully analyze a large number of observations from space and ground telescopes. His work should provide a fine description of the properties of potentially hazardous asteroids, which might help develop appropriate mitigation strategies. Dr. Polishook's work might also contribute to the definition of new targets for NASA's future missions.