# @unoosa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DJXEI4GtxBY
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/35584138-unoosa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/cd0141ea76.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-05-07T17:15:56.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** UNOOSA (@unoosa) — https://gondola.cc/unoosa

## Caption

☄️Ever simulated a potential asteroid impact on Earth? We have. 🦖 This week, #UNOOSA and our UN Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) team joined global experts at the International Academy of Astronautics 9th Planetary Defence Conference in South Africa to strengthen global readiness for asteroid threats. 

At the heart of the event was a simulation exercise based on a fictional asteroid, "2024 PDC25", with a hypothetical impact set for 24 April 2041. The projected impact zone stretched 470 km across 🇦🇴 Angola and 🇨🇩 the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Participants were first briefed by experts from the International Asteroid Warning Network (#IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (#SMPAG), the two global coordination mechanisms UNOOSA works with to strengthen preparedness against a potential asteroid impact hazard. They were then challenged to:
1️⃣ Select effective asteroid deflection options,
2️⃣ Navigate legal, political and technical constraints, and
3️⃣ Plan for disaster response on Earth if a deflection mission failed.

The exercise brought together stakeholders from local to international levels, including: Humbulani Mudau (🇿🇦 South African National Space Agency), David Ngindu (🇨🇩 DRC National Remote-Sensing Centre), Lindley Johnson (🇺🇸 NASA PDCO), Marco M. Castronuovo (🇮🇹 Agenzia Spaziale Italiana), Johan Minnie PhD (🇿🇦 City of Cape Town), Clement Herbert Kalonga and Joerg Szarzynski (🇺🇳 United Nations OCHA), Romana Kofler and Lóránt Czárán (🇺🇳 UNOOSA), Anderson Banda (🇲🇿 SADC), Ademuyiwa Oyewumi (🇳🇬 National Space Research & Development Agency), and James Nyaga (🇰🇪 RCMRD- Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development)

🛰️ Preparedness starts with practice. Simulation exercises like this, along with UNOOSA’s ongoing capacity-building and international coordination efforts, are vital to linking space-based data with actionable decision-making on Earth before a crisis strikes.

🎥 Want to learn more about #PlanetaryDefence? Watch our #UNOOSA101 explainer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw9mUqYeHgY

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## Tags

planetarydefence, smpag, unoosa101, unoosa, iawn

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