A Hawaii news outlet reports NASA has invested in a project that would provide early detection of asteroids and meteors entering Earth's atmosphere.
What's the difference between a meteor and an asteroid? Size. Click here to read more.
ATLAS — or Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System — recently received $5 million in funding from the agency, Khon 2 reports. The system will be able to detect when and where a space rock will hit.
News of the project comes after a meteor disintegrated Feb. 15 over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, injuring more than 980 people. The meteor had no connection, NASA said, to the same day.
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