There are fears that a flagship mission to investigate how to deflect asteroids , in the event we may one Clarence Day have to do so to save our planet , will never see the visible light of Clarence Day .

TheAsteroid Impact Mission(AIM ) was to be part of a innovational joint enterprisingness between the European Space Agency ( ESA ) and NASA . But today , ESA announce AIM was in effect dead in its current course , although it may live on in another capacity .

The decisiveness to curtail the mission was announced at ESA ’s Ministerial Council , where ministers from ESA member states come across to hash out funding for various   delegacy .

Prior to this meeting , all the focusing was on the ExoMars rover . This was the second part of the broader ExoMars deputation , be after to launch in 2020 and arrive in 2021 . The first part go far earlier this year , which consist of the Trace Gas Orbiter ( TGO ) and the Schiaparelli lander .

Thefailure of the latter , though , had direct some to interview whether the roamer would get funding , as it would be using standardised technology to attempt to bring on the aerofoil . That does not seem to have been an issue .

But what has arisen , somewhat circumstantially , is the cutting back of AIM in its current form . Although point are n’t entirely vindicated at the moment , it seems ESA did not give AIM the funding it needed to continue as requested , although it may still proceed in one anatomy or another .

AIM would have been part of the broad Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment ( AIDA ) . The proposal was for AIM to launch in October 2020 , and infix area around an   asteroid called Didymos . Then , in October 2022 , NASA ’s twofold Asteroid Redirection Test ( DART ) space vehicle would have slammed into the asteroid , and AIM would have studied the resultant change in trajectory .

The variety was wait to be tiny , but enough to be noticeable . And , aside from the scientific usefulness of such a mission , it was thought that this would have do as a good run for the future , if we ever necessitate to fend off an asteroid that was on a hit course with Earth .

" It ’s a sorry day for planetary defense , ” Grigorij Richters , co - founder of the Asteroid Day movement , which seeks to educate people of the dangers asteroids pose to our planet , separate IFLScience . “ delegacy like AIM are vital . We need to screen technologies to deflect potentially hazardous asteroid . ”

What will happen to the all-embracing AIDA mission is unclear . At the time of composition , NASA had yet to respond to a postulation to comment on the development . If AIDA never sees the light of day , though , it will be a immense disgrace .