ESA

SHADOW

On Monday, the Twitter account for the European Space Agency (ESA), is going to pivot hard to science fiction: The agency will spend the week acting out a catastrophic asteroid impact.

The ESA carries out a similar preparedness exercise — in which volunteers play the roles of government officials, scientists, and others — every two years. But this is the first time it will broadcast it to the public, according to an agency press release.

Game Updates

Every morning, role-playing experts will get a daily news brief about the hypothetical impact, which they will have to plan around as they try to prepare and then deal with an impact. People who follow the ESA on Twitter at @esaoperations will get the exact same updates, letting them follow along as the exercise unfolds.

We won’t know how the volunteers will act until next week — they may launch a mission to divert or destroy the asteroid, or they may focus on preparing people on Earth for a post-impact world.

We’re just hoping it all has a happy ending.

READ MORE: The day the asteroid might hit [European Space Agency via Phys.org]