Maj. Gen. John Shaw, head of Space Operations Command within the U.S. Space Force, discussed at a webinar Monday about planetary defense and how the Pentagon’s partnership with NASA might help mitigate the threat of an asteroid found to be on a collision course with Earth, DoD News reported Tuesday.
"We're happy to team with NASA in that regard," Shaw said. "If a small asteroid or meteorite did hit the Earth, there would be some sort of emergency management response on the part of our nation to support wherever that landed, and the Department of Defense would be happy to be a teammate in that regard."
He said NASA has an office tasked with cataloging solar system elements that could pose a threat to the Earth.
Shaw also discussed the launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA’s crewed Demo-2 flight test mission to the International Space Station and the readiness of DoD recovery personnel to retrieve astronauts in the event of a failed mission.
