2013 PDC-E
| 2013 PDC-E | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Don Yeomans and others |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Near-Earth object |
2013 PDC-E is a fictitious near-Earth object developed by Don Yeomans and others as the target of a table top emergency response drill at the International Academy of Astronautics 2013 Planetary Defense Conference. The drill was intended to give astronomers and other experts in asteroid and comet impact studies practice in responding to a hypothetical imminent impact with global consequences.
The name 2013 PDC-E is a parody on minor planet naming conventions, PDC for Planetary Defense Conference, -E for exercise.
The object is modeled after asteroid 367943 Duende, known as 2012 DA14 at the time. It is notionally a 300-meter-diameter stony asteroid that is part of the Aten dynamical family in 2013, when it is hypothetically observed by the Pan-STARRS telescope at a magnitude of 22.5. It migrates to the Apollo dynamical family over time. 2013 PDC-E is predicted in the exercise to pass through a dynamical keyhole of 1.2 km diameter in 2023 with a probability of 8%. If it did, it would strike Earth in 2028 with an impact velocity of 12.4 km/s, and an impact energy of approximately 700 megatons.
The exercise featured a hit on the French Riviera. It was repeated with different targets and conditions:
- 2015 Dhaka
- 2017 Tokyo
- 2019 New York City