Consider the following statements regarding the Asteroid Terrestrial impact Last Alert System ATLAS ...........

Science (CSC) Science & Technology

Consider the following statements regarding the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS):

1. The system is designed to quickly detect and track potentially hazardous asteroids that could impact Earth.

2. It consists of four telescopes; two in the USA and two in India.

3. The warning time by the ATLAS depends on the size of the asteroids.

How many of the above statements are correct?

Only one

Only two

All three

None

Correct Option: (b) Explanation: Statement 2 is incorrect : It consists of four telescopes two in Hawaii and one each in Chile and South Africa.
ATLAS ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) is a system for detecting and tracking near-Earth asteroids that have the potential to impact the Earth.
It is designed to detect asteroids that are several hundred meters in size and larger, and to provide rapid and accurate observations of their positions, speeds, and brightness to determine the impact risk.
The goal of ATLAS is to provide early warning of potentially hazardous impacts and to support follow-up observations by other astronomers.
It consists of four telescopes (Hawaii ×2, Chile, South Africa), which automatically scan the whole sky several times every night looking for moving objects.
ATLAS will provide a warning time depending on the size of the asteroid -- larger asteroids can be detected further from Earth.
ATLAS will see a small (~20 meter) asteroid several days out, and a 100- meter asteroid several weeks out.
A 100- meter asteroid has approximately 10 times the destructive force of the recent Tonga volcanic eruption.